International Cricket Council on Thursday announced the schedule for the Under-19 World Cup which will be held next year from January 17 to February 9 in South Africa.
Defending champions India have been grouped in Group A alongside Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Japan. India will open their campaign on January 19 when they face Sri Lanka at the Manguang Oval in Bloemfontein. Japan are making their debut at an ICC global event.
Hosts South Africa, champions in 2014, will play Afghanistan in the first match of the tournament at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley. The United Arab Emirates and Canada are the two other teams in Group B.
Group C has Pakistan with Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Scotland as the three other teams.
Nigeria are also making their ICC event debut and will face Australia in Kimberley on January 20 for their opening game. Group B’s other two teams are England and West Indies.
After the group stages, the tournament will be played with teams divided into Super League and Plate tournaments. The top two teams from each of the four groups advance to the Super League while the remaining teams feature in the Plate championship.
The JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom will be a key venue as it hosts two Super League quarterfinals, both semi-finals and the final.
Apart from the main tournament, the teams will also play warm-up games from January 12 to 15 in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
India have won the title four times, Australia have won three times, Pakistan have won it twice while England, South Africa and the West Indies have won once each.