T20 World Cup 2021: India and Pakistan to clash in Super 12 stage, grouped with New Zealand and Afghanistan
India vs Pakistan: The arch rivals have been placed in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage along with New Zealand and Afghanistan. They will be joined by two qualifiers from round 1.
India and Pakistan have been placed in Group 2 of the Super 12 stage of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 , scheduled to take place from October 17 to November 14 this year , the ICC announced on Friday. India and Pakistan will be joined by New Zealand , Afghanistan and two other qualifiers from Round 1. Group 1 will feature two-time and reigning champions West Indies along with Australia , England and South Africa and two other qualifiers.
"The groups , selected on the basis of team rankings as of 20 March 2021, see defending champions the West Indies pooled along with former champions England , Australia and South Africa in Group 1 of the Super 12s , with two qualifiers from Round 1 joining them ," the ICC said in a statement.
"Group 2 will comprise former champions India and Pakistan , New Zealand , Afghanistan and the other two qualifiers from Round 1. Eight teams will contest the first round including automatic qualifiers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with the remaining six who booked their spot through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019. Ireland , Netherlands and Namibia join Sri Lanka in Group A , whilst Oman , PNG and Scotland will face Bangladesh in Group B."
Once again, India and Pakistan - who have not played bilateral cricket in over a decade - will meet in a global tournament. Since the World Cup in 2011, India and Pakistan have played each other in all ICC events, including the 2012 World T20, 2013 Champions Trophy, 2014 World T20, 2015 World Cup , the World T20 in 2016 , twice in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 and the 2019 World Cup , with India losing just one game. The only ICC tournament they did not face each other in was the recently-concluded World Test Championships.
"We are delighted to announce the groups for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. There are some great match ups offered by the groups and it starts to bring the event to life for our fans as our first multi-team event since the onset of the global pandemic draws closer ," ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said.
"Given the disruption caused by Covid-19 , we selected the cutoff date as close as possible to the event to ensure we were able to include the maximum amount of cricket in the rankings which determine the groups. There is no doubt we will witness some highly competitive cricket when the event gets underway in just three months."
The T20 World Cup will take place after a gap of five years. Initially scheduled to take place in India last year , the Covid-19 pandemic postponed the ICC event by a year and moved it to the UAE and Oman. The venues for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 are Dubai International Stadium , the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi , the Sharjah Stadium , and the Oman Cricket Academy Ground.
Round 1
Group A: Sri Lanka , Ireland , the Netherlands and Namibia
Group B: Bangladesh , Scotland , Papua New Guinea and Oman
Super 12s
Group 1: England , Australia , South Africa , West Indies , A1 and B2.
Group 2: India , Pakistan , New Zealand , Afghanistan , A2 and B1.
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