ICC Men’s T20 World Cup: Format, squads, schedule – All you need to know as the ninth edition begins

The 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will begin on Saturday (Sunday as per Indian Standard Time) with an opening clash between the United States of America and Canada.

The ninth edition of the global event, being co-hosted by the United States and West Indies, is the largest ever World Cup in history of cricket in terms of the number of teams competing. The tournament will witness a total of 20 teams battling it out in 55 matches to be crowned world champions in the shortest format of the sport.

Also read: From India’s title hopes to a potential Australian treble – here’s what to expect

Here’s all you need to know about the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup:

The teams competing

A total of 20 teams will compete at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. While the United States and West Indies qualified automatically by the virtue of being the hosts, a total of eight teams – India, England, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Netherlands – earned direct qualification as the best teams in the previous edition held in Australia in 2022.

The remainder of the ten teams made it through various qualification routes. For example, Afghanistan and Bangladesh qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings.

Nepal and Oman earned their slot through the Asian qualifiers. Scotland and Ireland made it through from the European qualifiers, while Namibia and Uganda progressed through the African qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Canada won the American qualifiers whereas Papua New Guinea were the East Asia-Pacific qualifying champions.

The format

The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five teams each to start off the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. All teams will play four matches each in the stage (one against each other) and the top two teams from each group will move into the Super Eight.

The eight teams in the Super Eight stage will be further divided into two groups of four teams each. Each team will play three matches apiece in this stage, with the top two teams from both groups advancing to the semi-finals.

The groups

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team has been drawn in Group A alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, hosts United States, Canada, and Ireland.

Meanwhile, Australia and England have been drawn together in Group B whereas Group C has hosts West Indies, New Zealand, and Afghanistan.

Group D has Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Bangladesh.

Group A: India, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland, United States of America

Group B: Australia, England, Namibia, Oman, Scotland

Group C: Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, West Indies

Group D: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands, Nepal

The squads

New Zealand were the first team to announce their squad for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, way back on April 29, while Pakistan were the final team to submit their squad on May 24.

Also read: Rohit Sharma, Ajit Agarkar on team selection, KL Rahul’s omission and more

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj; Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan

Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik; Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa; Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib; Reserves: Afif Hossain, Hasan Mahmud

Canada: Saad Bin Zafar (c), Aaron Johnson, Ravinderpal Singh, Navneet Dhaliwal, Kaleem Sana, Dilon Heyliger, Jeremy Gordon, Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyankhan Pathan, Junaid Siddiqui, Dilpreet Bajwa, Shreyas Movva, Rishiv Joshi; Reserves: Tajinder Singh, Aaditya Varadharajan, Ammar Khalid, Jatinder Matharu, Parveen Kumar

England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood

Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young

Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), Zane Green, Michael Van Lingen, Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Niko Davin, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, JP Kotze, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Malan Kruger, PD Blignaut

Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal Singh Airee

Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Aryan Dutt, Bas de Leede, Kyle Klein, Logan van Beek, Max O’Dowd, Michael Levitt, Paul van Meekeren, Ryan Klein, Saqib Zulfiqar, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Teja Nidamanuru, ⁠⁠Tim Pringle, Vikram Singh, Viv Kingma, Wesley Barresi; Reserve: Ryan Klein

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Trent Boult, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee; Reserve: Ben Sears

Oman: Aqib Ilyas (c), Zeeshan Maqsood, Kashyap Prajapati, Pratik Athavale, Ayaan Khan, Shoaib Khan, Mohammad Nadeem, Naseem Khushi, Mehran Khan, Bilal Khan, Rafiullah, Kaleemullah, Fayyaz Butt, Shakeel Ahmad, Khalid Kail; Reserves: Jatinder Singh, Samay Shrivastava, Sufyan Mehmood, Jay Odedra

Papua New Guinea: Assadollah Vala (c), Alei Nao, Chad Soper, CJ Amini, Hila Vare, Hiri Hiri, Jack Gardner, John Kariko, Kabua Vagi Morea, Kipling Doriga, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Sema Kamea, Sese Bau, Tony Ura

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan

Scotland: Richie Berrington (c), Matthew Cross, Brad Currie, Chris Greaves, Oli Hairs, Jack Jarvis, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Chris Sole, Charlie Tear, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs

Sri Lanka: Wanindu Hasaranga (c), Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka; Reserves: Asitha Fernando, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage.

Uganda: Brian Masaba (c), Simon Ssesazi, Roger Mukasa, Cosmas Kyewuta, Dinesh Nakrani, Fred Achelam, Kenneth Waiswa, Alpesh Ramjani, Frank Nsubuga, Henry Ssenyondo, Bilal Hassun, Robinson Obuya, Riazat Ali Shah, Juma Miyaji, Ronak Patel; Reserves: Innocent Mwebaze, Ronald Lutaaya

United States: Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Andries Gous, Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, Harmeet Singh, Jessy Singh, Milind Kumar, Nisarg Patel, Nitish Kumar, Noshtush Kenjige, Saurabh Nethralvakar, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir; Reserve: Gajanand Singh, Juanoy Drysdale, Yasir Mohammad.

West Indies: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd

The schedule

The 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will start on June 1 in Dallas, while the final is slated to be held on June 29 in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The group stage of the competition will go on until June 17, while the Super Eight stage will be held from June 19 to June 24. This will be followed by the two semi-finals on June 26 and June 27 respectively.

India will start their campaign on June 5 against Ireland, before taking on Pakistan in the big ticket clash on June 9. They will then play USA and Canada on June 12 and 15 respectively.

The 55 matches in the tournament will be played across nine different venues – six in West Indies and three in the United States.

The stadiums in West Indies include Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Kensington Oval in Barbados, Providence Stadium in Guyana, Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia, Arnos Vale Stadium in St Vincent, and Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad and Tobago.

The three stadiums in the United States, meanwhile, are: Central Broward Park in Florida, Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, and the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas.

You can check out the complete schedule of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup here.

Past winners

A total of six teams have shared the past eight ICC Men’s T20 World Cup titles. While India won inaugural edition in 2007, England and West Indies are the only two nations to win the title twice.

Pakistan, Australia, and Sri Lanka have all won the title once each.

Where to watch

All matches will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network and live streamed on Disney+Hotstar.