Bangladesh to meet SA, SL, Netherlands and Nepal in group stage of T20 World Cup: Report

Bangladesh will reportedly meet Sri Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands and Nepal in the group stage of the T20 World Cup. The Group D featuring these teams is the only group to feature matches in both the United States and West Indies.

India have been drawn with Pakistan, Ireland, USA and Canada in the group stage. 

The tournament will be played in a new format that is significantly different from the ones that have been used till the last edition in 2022, with there being two group stages involving all the teams. 

The previous editions featured a qualifier tournament for lower-ranked sides before a Super 12 stage consisting of two groups of six. The tournament will be hosted in the West Indies and USA and is scheduled to be held from 4 to 30 June this year.

According to a report on The Telegraph, India have been drawn into Group A, with their group stage matches being played entirely in the USA.

Group B consists of defending champions England, Australia, Scotland, Namibia and Oman and their matches will be played entirely in the Caribbean. 

In Group C, West Indies will meet New Zealand, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.

The top two teams from each group will move to a Super Eight phase, where the remaining sides will be split into two groups of four. 

The top two in each group will then make their way to the semi-finals. While the draw is yet to be announced, it is reported that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has shared it with the competing nations and, barring any final changes, will be officially announced imminently.

The Super Eight draw will be announced at the same time as the pool stage, with participating teams pre-assigned a group for this part of the competition, based on their initial seeding.

As hosts, the West Indies and the USA take up the first two spots for 2024. From there, performances at the 2022 edition, and the ICC T20I rankings cut-off on 14 November, determined the next 10 teams. The teams that finished in the top four of the two Super 12 groups in the last T20 World Cup in Australia gained spots for the 2024 tournament. The next best teams in the ICC rankings on a cut-off date of 14 November also qualified and these were Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Another major shift in the new format is the tournament moving away from a global qualifier and instead putting an emphasis on regional qualification tournaments. Africa, Asia and Europe were given two qualification spots, with one spot for both the Americas and East-Asia Pacific regions. The teams that have qualified through this route are Ireland, Canada, Namibia, Scotland, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and Nepal.