The 5th edition of the fast-paced and exhilarating ICC Twenty20 World Cup kicked off in Bangladesh on the 16th of March with the inaugural match between the host country and the young cricketing country of Afghanistan. This is the first time that the World Cup consists of 16 nations competing for the ultimate prize in Twenty20 cricket. This move was scheduled to take place in the last World Cup held in West Indies; however, the decision was reverted back to 12 teams.
The reformatting of the tournament has raised questions from people of how the structure of the tournament is going to look like. The tournament this year consists of all the 10 full-member of the ICC International teams. The 6 remaining teams have qualified from the ICC World Twenty20 Cup qualifiers held in October 2013. These teams include Afghanistan, Nepal, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands and United Arab Emirates (UAE). These teams were first divided into two groups of four – Bangladesh and Zimbabwe included. Two teams qualified from these two respective groups to the round of Super 10. These teams were Bangladesh and Netherlands. The Super 10 round consists of two groups of five team each. Group A consisted of Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, England and Netherlands. Group B consisted of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and West Indies. Two teams that qualify from each group will play the semi-finals and ultimately, the finals.
The tournament up till now has had some cracking matches. At the top of the list of cracking matches shall always be the nail-biting rivalry of India and Pakistan. The match this time as well, did not seize to disappoint with India winning by 7 wickets in 18.3 overs. The fairly new team of Hong Kong also registered a surprising victory over Bangladesh with 2 wickets remaining however in vain, as it was too late to stop Bangladesh from entering the Super 10 round. The tournament also saw the lowest total ever scored in a Twenty20 world Cup with Netherlands scoring only 39 runs against the veterans, Sri Lanka.
The finals of the Men’s World cup take place on April 6th at Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
With the international media covering only the Men’s World Cup, a lot of people do not know that the Women’s World Cup is also being held in Bangladesh. Only 10 teams are a part of the tournament with the defending Champions, Australia as the favourites. The Aussie women look to complete their hat trick of titles by winning this tournament.
The finals for the Women’s tournament also take place on the same day and at the same venue as the Men’s Final but with a time difference as the Women’s match takes place earlier.
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