After the ODI Cricket World Cup 2023, where India finished runner-up to Australia, the next ICC event for the team will be the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup. It will give the Indian cricket team yet another opportunity to end the ICC title drought. Since 2013, when Indian cricket team won the Champions Trophy under the leadership of MS Dhoni, India have not won any ICC trophy. The 2024 T20 World Cup schedule was announced on Friday. The tournament will begin on June 1 with a match between USA and Canada.
India's first match will be against Ireland on. June 5 while they will face arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9. The promo of the clash by Star Sports, the official broadcasters of the 2024 T20 World Cup, features Pakistan T20I captain Shaheen Afridi and Hardik Pandya. While Hardik Pandya has led India in quite a few T20I series after the 2022 T20 World Cup, there is no official confirmation that he will lead in the 2024 T20 World Cup too. There are the reports that Rohit Sharma may lead in the T20 World Cup 2024.
The fans reacted strongly with Hardik Pandya's image being used in place of Rohit Sharma. Recently, Pandya replaced Rohit as Mumbai Indians captain.
The International Cricket Council on Friday announced the schedule for the T20 World Cup 2024. The event will kick off on June 1 with a match between United States and Canada in Texas. Meanwhile, the high-octane encounter between India and Pakistan will be played in New York on June 9. A total of 20 teams will be participating in the tournament with four groups of five-team each. The semi-finals of the tournament will be played on June 25 and 27 while the summit clash will be played on June 29.
According to the International Cricket Council (ICC) website, Group B consists of the last two winners of the Men's T20 World Cup in England and Australia, with the pair to take on Namibia, Scotland and Oman.
West Indies are placed into Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, while Group D sees South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands and Nepal.
The 55 games of the competition will be played across six different venues in the West Indies (Kensington Oval, Barbados; Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad; Providence Stadium, Guyana; Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua; Darren Sammy Cricket Ground, St Lucia; Arnos Vale Stadium, St Vincent) and three venues in the USA (Eisenhower Park, New York; Lauderhill, Florida; and Grand Prairie, Texas).