Teams, format, fixtures: everything you need to know about the T20 World Cup Super Eights | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup News

The 2024 ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup – cricket’s biggest tournament – ​​has reached the Super Eights stage in the United States and West Indies.

The 20-team competition has been reduced to eight teams and there have already been major shocks and eliminations in the group stage.

Here’s what you need to know about the next stage of the tournament:

Which teams qualified for the Super Eights?

The top two teams from each of the four initial groups qualified, with the most notable omissions being Pakistan and New Zealand:

• India (Group A Winners)
• USA (Group A runner-up)
• Australia (Group B Winners)
• England (runner-up of group B)
• West Indies (Group C Winners)
• Afghanistan (Group C runner-up)
• South Africa (Group D Winners)
• Bangladesh (runner-up of group D)

How does the format work?

Following the four groups of five that started the tournament, the structure is now reduced to two groups of four – the Super Eights.

Each team will face each other once in their respective groups, with the top two teams from each qualifying for the semi-finals.

• Group 1: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India
• Group 2: England, South Africa, USA, West Indies

When and where will the Super Eights and final be?

The Super Eights will be played from June 18th to 25th.

The tournament, which kicked off on June 2 at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Dallas, has left the United States and will now be played entirely in the Caribbean. Four sites will be used in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Saint Vincent.

The semi-finals will be played on June 27th in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, respectively. The final in Barbados will take place on June 29th.

What are the most important matches to watch in Super Eights?

In an edition full of shocks and surprises, including the biggest in the tournament’s history when the USA beat Pakistan, every game seems to have even greater value now.

The USA, just as they did in the group stage, will open the next round against South Africa on Wednesday. The Proteas have claimed four wins in their four group games, but each has been a close contest rather than the outing the table might suggest. Their top order has not been fired and the US will be keen to push another of cricket’s global giants all the way.

Fellow co-hosts West Indies, also one of our five pre-tournament favourites, face champions England in the second match of the Super Eights stage on Thursday. Next comes India, the defeated finalist of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, against Afghanistan, currently one of the underdogs for the trophy. Both matches will likely define the path both groups take.

When England face South Africa on Friday, we could be looking at an eliminator for one of the powerhouses.

Australia must wait until Friday to begin the tournament and must be wary of Bangladesh’s spinners in Antigua. The same will be true, if not more so, for Mitchell Marsh’s Australians on Sunday when they face Afghanistan.

The key clash in Group 1 will be in the final round of Super Eights matches between Australia and India – a repeat of the 2023 Cricket World Cup and Test Championship finals. It is a match that will probably decide first and second place in the group and, therefore, qualification for the semi-finals.

Champions England follow up their opener against the West Indies by facing South Africa in their second match, before finishing against the USA. The co-hosts’ game against the Proteas looks to be a clear eliminator at this stage – unless the USA can spring another surprise when they face the defending champions.

#TeamIndia Domination

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-BCCI (@BCCI) May 3, 2024

Who are the favorites for the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-finals?

India is the number one ranked T20 team. The tournament has been uncomfortable so far, and the matches against the USA and Canada were more problematic than expected, while the match against Pakistan went down to the wire. Rohit Sharma’s men will be desperate to make up for the pain of losing the 2023 Cricket World Cup final to Australia at home and hope their players can carry their form from the recently concluded Indian Premier League into the final stages of this tournament .

Australia could become the undisputed king of cricket if they manage to unify the world titles by lifting the T20 World Cup. The Australians clinched the World Test Championship in 2023, defeating India at the Oval in England before retaining the Ashes on English soil and then completing a turbulent year by defeating India in Ahmedabad to be crowned champions aged 50 . A complete sweep of the Test, ODI and T20 titles would be the most notable turnaround for a team that was humiliated by the sandball-tampering controversy in 2018.

England’s defense of the T20 trophy appeared to be heading for a similar disastrous end to last year’s 50-over title. Defeat in the opening game against Scotland was followed by a 36-run defeat to Australia and left them praying for good weather for the final two must-win matches against Oman and Namibia. The latter proved to be a nervous wait and a close contest in a small game, but Jos Buttler’s side managed to survive. Carlos Brathwaite’s heroics in the last over of the 2016 final will still haunt the English when they face the West Indies – both sides are aiming for a record third T20 title – while fellow Group 2 contenders South Africa can never be ruled out.

The Proteas’ seam attack is led by the fit-again Anriche Nortje, who holds the best economy (5.02) of any player in a T20 World Cup, but they will have to shake off the confusion of never getting past the semi-final stage of a major international tournament. Cricket Council (ICC) Tournament. The West Indies, however, cannot be ruled out, but have yet to be truly tested in this edition, having come through a group with Uganda, Papua New Guinea and a desperately subpar New Zealand.

Here’s Al Jazeera’s quick tour of the tournament’s history.

What are the full Super Eights games?

Group 1: Afghanistan v India (20 June, Barbados), Australia v Bangladesh (21 June, Antigua), India v Bangladesh (22 June, Antigua), Afghanistan v Australia (23 June, St Vincent), Australia v India (24 June, Saint Lucia), Afghanistan x Bangladesh (June 25, Saint Vincent)

Group 2: United States v South Africa (June 19, Antigua), West Indies v England (June 20, Saint Lucia), England v South Africa (June 21, Antigua), West Indies v United States (June 22, Barbados), United States v England (23 June, Barbados), West Indies v South Africa (24 June, Antigua)

How much is the T20 World Cup prize money?

The ICC has not confirmed the prize money for the 2024 edition of the tournament, but previous winners England walked away with US$1.6 million in 2022.

Where can I watch the T20 World Cup Super Eights?

The ICC has assigned rights to several online broadcast and streaming channels across the world.

Al Jazeera is providing extensive coverage of the tournament with news, previews, key information as well as live updates for all the biggest matches, followed by post-match reaction, analysis and everything else you need to know about the World Cup T20. .