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Explained: 2021 T20 World Cup format, rules, venues, prize money

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have to play the preliminary round because of low rankings

A poster featuring the team captains at the 2021 T20 World Cup | ICC

After five years, the T20 World Cup is back. The start of the tournament has gone largely under the radar as lower-ranked teams have kicked-off the tournament. Though the tournament officially began yesterday, the major teams will start their campaigns on October 23 with the Super 12 stage.

What happens until then?

The preliminary round will have eight low-ranked countries, competing to join the eight top-ranked T20I sides that have automatically made it to the Super 12.

They are divided into two groups:

Group A: Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Namibia

Group B: Bangladesh, Oman, Scotland and Papua New Guinea

The teams play each other in their groups and the top two from each group will proceed to the Super 12.

On Sunday, Papua New Guinea lost to Oman, while Scotland shocked Bangladesh.

While the qualifiers go on, the eight pre-determined Super 12 qualifiers will play two warm-up matches each. India will play England (Oct 18) and Australia (Oct 20).

Super 12 stage

The Super 12 are also divided into two groups:

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, B1 and A2

These teams will also play each other once in their respective groups, following which, the top two placed teams from both groups make it to the semifinals.

The ICC has widened the pool of teams contesting in the second round, switching from a Super 10 at the 2016 T20 World Cup to a Super 12 now.

How were the teams ranked?

The seedings were based on the ICC Men's T20 rankings as on December 31, 2018.

Since Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were ranked outside the top eight, they have to contend with the other qualifiers to make it to the Super 12.

West Indies are the defending champions, having won the edition held in India in 2016.

India’s matches

October 24 – India vs Pakistan

October 31 – India vs New Zealand

November 3 – India vs Afghanistan

November 5 – India vs B1

November 8 – India vs A2

Who is hosting the tournament?

Though the official host is India, this edition of the World Cup was moved to Oman and the UAE because of the Covid-19 situation in India. The decision was made in June.

The 12 first-round matches are played in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Al Amerat in Oman.

The 30 Super 12 matches will be played in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The semifinals will be played at Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the summit clash will be held in Dubai on November 14.

Points and ties

A team gets two points for a win and one point for a tie or no result. Other factors to decide a team’s place on the table (in descending order of priority) are number of wins, net run rate, head-to-head result and original seedings.

If a game is tied, teams will play a Super Overs until a winner is decided.

Only the semifinals and the final will have reserve days in case of bad weather.

A minimum of five overs have to be played in each innings to get a result in the first two rounds. In the semifinal and final, the teams will have to play a minimum of ten overs in both innings.

Prize money

Winners - $1.6 million (Rs 12.05 crore)

Runners-up - $800,000 (Rs 6.02 crore)

Losing semifinalists - $400,000 (Rs 3.01 crore)

Will there be spectators?

The stadiums in the UAE have been permitted to host vaccinated fans up to a maximum of 70 per cent of the stadiums’ capacity, while the Oman stadium can host up to 3,000 fans.