India, Pakistan high-octane clash highlights Twenty20 World Cup in UAE

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The opening match of Group 2  between arch rivals India and Pakistan on Oct.24 in Dubai, highlights the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup as the fixtures for the delayed tournament were announced on Tuesday.

The Indo-Pak clash will be preceded by Australia vs South Africa tie and West Indies, England match in the first games of the Super 12 stage.

Oman will take on Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the opener followed by the tie between Bangladesh and Scotland in the evening in round one of the Oct.17 – Nov.14 tournament, which will be held in the UAE along with Oman.

The South Asian cricket rivals are joined by newly crowned World Test champions New Zealand and Afghanistan as well as two qualifiers from round one in Group 2 of the Super 12s (second round), whereas in Group 1, defending champions West Indies are clubbed with England, Australia and South Africa along with two qualifiers from round one.

There are eight teams in Round one including automatic qualifiers Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who will play against six teams who clinched their spots through qualifying matches held in the UAE in 2019.

The Super 12 groups were made on the basis of team rankings as of March 20, 2021.

The four leading teams will join hosts India and seven other automatic qualifiers after advancing from the first stage to so called Super 12.

The two teams from each group of Super 12, which will run from Oct.23 - Nov.14, will advance to semi-finals, scheduled to be played on Nov.10 and 11 in Abu Dubai and Dubai respectively.

The final of the mega event will be played in Dubai on Nov.14.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) remains the 'host' but the competition will now be held across four venues in the UAE and one in Oman.

The main matches will be played at Dubai International Stadium, the Sheikh Zayed Stadium and Sharjah Stadium while the Oman Cricket Academy ground will host initial group games.

The prevailing coronavirus situation in India forced the prestigious tournament to be shifted to the UAE and Oman as the UAE has a proven record of successfully staging the world-class sporting event since the outbreak of coronavirus brought the world to its knees.

The two cricket arch rivals last met in 2019 in a 50-over World Cup match in England.