ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021: Fixtures, format, squads and all you need to know

Picture Credit: Twitter/@ICC

The T20 World Cup 2021 is almost here. Five years since the last edition, the World Cup will commence on October 17 in the Middle East. The tournament will begin at the Oman Cricket Academy and the ICC event will culminate with the final scheduled to take place on November 14 in Dubai.

West Indies are the defending champions of the tournament as it was Carlos Braithwaite the last time around who etched his name in history books as he played a key role in handing England a defeat in the T20 World Cup final at the Eden Gardens in 2016. Meanwhile, they are also the only team in the history of the competition to have lifted the trophy more, previously in 2012.

While the Men in Maroon would want to become the first team to have successfully defended its crown in T20 World Cup, it is not going to be easy at all as the other 15 teams would also be looking to come up with their A-game to try and lift the trophy.

Prior to the much-anticipated event which is already a year late due to the COVID-19 pandemic, here is all you need to know about the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021:

What is the format of the tournament?

This time around the tournament is set to be played in three stages.

The first stage is Round 1 which will witness two groups of four teams each participate in a round-robin format. At the end of this stage, the top two teams from each group will progress to the subsequent round which is Group 12 stage.

It has been decided that the top team from Group A as well as the team which finishes second on Group B, they will enter Group 1 of the Super 12 stage. Similarly, the top teams from Group B after the round-robin fixtures and the second team from Group A will join Group 2 of Super 12.

In the second stage, which is Group 12, eight teams have already qualified and placed in Group 1 and Group 2. The other four teams will be decided based on the results of Round 1. The top two teams from each group - 1 and 2 - will move to the knock-out round of the tournament.

The final stage is the knock-out round which will have two semifinals and a final.

How will the points system work for T20 World Cup 2021?

The points system for the tournament will see a win implying two points, a tie, no result or abandonment - one point and a defeat or a forfeit - zero points.

What about reserve days?

There are reserve days in place for both the semi-finals as well as the final. However, no other match in the tournament has a reserve day.

Squads:

Sri Lanka

Group: A, Round 1

Squad

Dasun Shanaka (captain), Kusal Janith Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya De Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Binura Fernando.

Ireland

Group: A, Round 1

Squad

Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

Reserve players: Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Barry McCarthy

Netherlands

Group: A, Round 1

Squad

Pieter Seelaar (c), Colin Ackermann, Philippe Boissevain, Ben Cooper, Bas de Leede, Scott Edwards, Brandon Glover, Fred Klaassen, Stephan Myburgh, Max O’Dowd, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren

Reserve players: Shane Snater, Tobias Visee

Namibia

Group: A, Round 1

Squad

Gerhard Erasmus (c), Stephen Baard, Karl Birkenstock. Michau du Preez, Jan Frylinck, Zane Green, Nicol Lofie-Eaton, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, JJ Smit, Ruben Trumpelmann, Michael van Lingen, David Wiese, Craig Williams, Picky Ya France

Reserve players: Mauritius Ngupita

Bangladesh

Group: B, Round 1

Squad

Mahmud Ullah (Captain), Naim Sheikh, Soumya Sarkar, Litton Kumer Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan Sohan, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Shaif Uddin, Shamim Hossain, Rubel Hossain

Reserve players: Animul Islam Biplob

Scotland

Group: B, Round 1

Squad (provisional)

Kyle Coetzer (captain), Richard Berrington, Dylan Budge, Matthew Cross (wk), Josh Davey, Ally Evans, Chris Greaves, Michael Leask, Calum Macleod, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Hamza Tahir, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal

Papua New Guinea

Group: B, Round 1

Squad

Assad Vala (c), Charles Amini, Lega Siaka, Norman Vanua, Nosaina Pokana, Kipling Doriga, Tony Ura, Hiri Hiri, Gaudi Toka, Sese Bau, Damien Ravu, Kabua Vagi-Morea, Simon Atai, Jason Kila, Chad Soper, Jack Gardner

Oman

Group: B, Round 1

Squad

Zeeshan Maqsood (c), Aqib Ilyas, Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali, Mohammad Nadeem, Ayaan Khan, Suraj Kumar, Sandeep Goud, Nester Dhamba, Kaleemullah, Bilal Khan, Naseem Khushi, Sufyan Mehmood, Fayyaz Butt, Khurram Khan

England

Group: 1, Super 12

Squad

Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Reserve players: Liam Dawson, James Vince, Reece Topley

Australia

Group: 1, Super 12

Squad

Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins (vc), Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Reserve players: Dan Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams

South Africa

Group: 1, Super 12

Squad

Temba Bavuma (c), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wk), Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, W Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen

Reserve players: George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams

West Indies

Group: 1, Super 12

Squad

Kieron Pollard (Captain), Nicholas Pooran (Vice Captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh jr

Reserve players: Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein

India

Group: 2, Super 12

Squad

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Rahul Chahar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami

Reserve players: Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur

Pakistan

Group: 2, Super 12

Squad

Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik

Reserve players: Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir

New Zealand

Group: 2, Super 12

Squad

Kane Williamson (c), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee

Reserve players: Adam Milne

Afghanistan

Group: 2, Super 12

Squad

Mohammad Nabi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Shahzad, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Farid Ahmed Malik, Naveen ul Haq

Reserve players: Sharafuddin Ashraf, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Fazal Haq Farooqi

Round 1 Fixtures: