The ICC T20 World Cup 2020 is supposed to be the seventh ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The matches that are scheduled between the 18th of October to the 15th of November would be held on the grounds of Australia. The final match of the tournament would take place on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The International Cricket Council(ICC) recently confirmed amidst the Covid-19 scare, that the tournament would unfold later this year as scheduled.
According to ICC’s fresh format, at the qualifying stage of 2020’s tournament, there will be two groups, namely A and B led by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea(PNG) and Oman will make up the Group A, while Group B would comprise of Namibia, Netherlands, and Scotland along with Bangladesh. The Super 12 round will see the top two sides from each group.
Sri Lanka is speculated to grab the first spot in group A owing to their victory against Pakistan in their recent series. Apart from this, they also grabbed the World Cup T20 title of 2014 and were the runner-up in 209 and 2012. Currently placed at rank 8, Sri Lanka seems to be at the top of Group A.
Ireland’s victory against West Indies recently and their higher expertise in the game in comparison to Oman and PNG makes them a clear choice for the second position in Group A.
In Group B, Bangladesh currently ranked ninth has a sure shot chance of qualifying for the main round owing to their significant improvement in ODIs and T20s. Winning 58 out of a total of 89 matches, they definitely grab the first spot in Group B.
Netherlands having won 40 matches out of a total of 75 seems to have a better chance at qualifying for the main round as compared to Namibia and Scotland.
October 24th will see the commencement of the main round. The main round has two groups, Group 1 and Group 2. The top two sides from Group A will form Group 1whereas the top two teams from Group B will form Group 2. The teams in Group 1 include Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies along with the top two teams from Group A of the qualifying round. Group 2 would comprise England, India, South Africa and Afghanistan apart from the top two sides of Group B.
Based on rates and rankings, Pakistan, Australia, England and India are the top 4 favourites of the WC T20 2020 scheduled later this year.
However, this time Australia being the hosts of the tournament for the very first time may produce starkly different results. South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia benefit hugely from the Australian conditions most of the time. Therefore, it can be speculated India along with the above mentioned countries to be among the top teams of the World Cup.
Taking into account past records and Australian conditions, most predictions reveal Australia, India, and South Africa as the top three semi finalists. The position of the fourth semi finalist might be taken up by either Pakistan or New Zealand.
Adam Gilchrist picked his top four semi finalists in 2019. According to the legendary Australian wicket keeper, the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2020 would see India, England, Australia and New Zealand as the semi finalists. However, quite surprisingly he decided to keep Pakistan out of his list of semi-finalists in spite of their high T20 ranking.
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