Twenty20 World Cup kicks off today in US

ISLAMABAD: The Twenty20 World Cup kicks off Saturday with co-hosts the United States facing Canada in Dallas. However the curtain-raiser event has been scheduled to take place before the West Indies vs Papua New Guinea match at the T20 World Cup, on June 02

In what seems to be a rather strange decision taken by the authorities, the cricket world will witness a grand opening ceremony of the campaign before the second match of the season in Guyana, and not the first. The curtain-raiser event has been scheduled to take place before the West Indies vs Papua New Guinea match at the T20 World Cup, on June 02.

The championship has expanded to a 20-team format, allowing lower-ranked nations to compete alongside traditional favorites.

Matches will be held at nine venues: six in the West Indies and three in the United States. Australia aims to become the first team to hold all three major cricket titles simultaneously. A significant achievement for the tournament would be to help cricket gain a foothold in  a foothold in the lucrative U.S. market.

ICC World Cup debutants USA will look to build on their recent dominance over their northern neighbours and get their tournament off to a winning start.

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Canada, who have previously participated in ICC’s 50-over World Cup, will also make their debut in the T20 version of the tournament.

It is a landmark moment for the USA team to be in an elite competition after decades of being stuck in minor tournaments.

“We’ve been speaking over the last couple of years about playing in World Cups, about taking USA cricket to higher heights,” USA’s vice-captain Aaron Jones said ahead of the opening match.

T20 WORLD CUP FORMAT

The tournament features 20 teams divided into four groups, each team playing the others in their group once in a round-robin format. A win earns two points, while a tie or no result earns one point. The top two teams from each group advance to the Super 8s, which are split into two groups of four. These teams will also play in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each Super 8s group will move on to the semi-finals.
Group A – India, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland, United States
Group B – England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman.
Group C – New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Uganda
Group D – South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal.

PAKISTAN TEAM ARRIVES IN US

Pakistan cricket team has arrived in USA for ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Led by captain Babar Azam, the Men in Green will begin their T20 World Cup campaign with an opening match against hosts USA at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas, Dallas on Thursday (June 6). Pakistan will hold its first practice session on Saturday, June 1, at the same venue.