Bangladesh will open their campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against Scotland at the Oman Cricket Academy ground in Muscat on 17 October, as the schedule of the 16-team tournament was announced by the International Cricket Council today.
Bangladesh and 2014 champions Sri Lanka feature in Round 1 along with Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands Oman, PNG and Scotland in the seventh edition of the tournament, being hosted by India in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman through to 14 November. Their other matches are against Oman (19 October) and Papua New Guinea (21 October).
Abu Dhabi will be the venue of the first semi-final on 10 November while the other semi-final (11 November) and the final (14 November) will be played in Dubai. All day matches are scheduled for 14h00 local time and the day-night matches are slated for 18h00 local time (+4 GMT).
Bangladesh captain Mahmud Ullah backs the depth of this team while other captains foresee thrilling games and a high standard of the game.
Bangladesh captain Mahmud Ullah: “It’s a very important tournament for all teams and especially for our team. We are playing a few series before the T20 World Cup and if we can do well, get a bit of confidence, try to win those series before the World Cup starts, it will be a big boost for our team.
“In a tournament like the T20 World Cup every match is equally important. Whoever you are playing, you have to be on the top from the first ball, you have to be in the right frame of mind and focus on the team processes so you can win every game.
“Our strength has been our all-rounders and our bowling department. Having said that, our batting is also very good and we have a good balance. We have five or six all-rounders, who can bat and bowl. Our fast bowlers are doing an incredible job at the moment. Our spinners are our strength as well. If they can put up their hand in a few matches, hopefully we will have some good results.
“Shakib has been the number one all-rounder and the most valuable player in our team. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mustafizur Rahman are also very important. Others like Afif (Hossain), Shamim (Hossain) and Sohan (Nurul Hasan) are really keen to do well for themselves and the team as well, and those are the youngsters to look out for.”
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard is promising exciting cricket, the type that helped them defeat England in a pulsating final at the Eden Gardens in 2016 with Carlos Brathwaite blasting four consecutive sixes in the last over to turn the tables on 2010 champions England.
The groupings:
Round 1
Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands and Namibia
Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and Oman
(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)
Super 12s
Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1 and B2.
Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A2 and B1.
(Top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals)
Complete schedule:
Round 1
17 Oct: Oman v Papua New Guinea, Muscat (14h00); Bangladesh v Scotland, Muscat (18h00)
18 Oct: Ireland v Netherlands, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Sri Lanka v Namibia, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
19 Oct: Scotland v PNG, Muscat (14h00); Oman v Bangladesh, Muscat (18h00)
20 Oct: Namibia v Netherlands, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Sri Lanka v Ireland, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
21 Oct: Bangladesh v Papua New Guinea, Muscat (14h00); Oman v Scotland, Muscat (18h00)
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22 Oct: Namibia v Ireland, Sharjah (14h00); Sri Lanka v Netherlands, Sharjah (18h00)
Super 12s
23 Oct: Australia v South Africa, Abu Dhabi (14h00); England v West Indies, Dubai (18h00)
24 Oct: A1 v B2, Sharjah (14h00); India v Pakistan, Dubai (18h00)
25 Oct: Afghanistan v B1, Sharjah (18h00)
26 Oct: South Africa v West Indies, Dubai (14h00); Pakistan v New Zealand, Sharjah (18h00)
27 Oct: England v B2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); B1 v A2, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
28 Oct: Australia v A1, Dubai (14h00)
29 Oct: West Indies v B2, Sharjah (14h00); Pakistan v Afghanistan, Dubai (18h00)
30 Oct: South Africa v A1, Sharjah (14h00); Australia v England, Dubai (18h00)
31 Oct: Afghanistan v A2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); India v New Zealand, Dubai (18h00)
1 Nov: England v A1, Sharjah (18h00)
2 Nov: South Africa v B2, Abu Dhabi (14h00); Pakistan v A2, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
3 Nov: New Zealand v B1, Dubai (14h00); India v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
4 Nov: Australia v B2, Dubai (14h00); West indies v A1, Abu Dhabi (18h00)
5 Nov: New Zealand v A2, Sharjah (14h00); India v B1, Dubai (18h00)
6 Nov: Australia v West Indies, Abu Dhabi (14h00); England v South Africa, Sharjah (18h00)
7 Nov: New Zealand v Afghanistan, Abu Dhabi (14h00): Pakistan v B1, Sharjah (18h00)
8 Nov: India v A2, Dubai (18h00)
Knock-out stage
10 Nov: Semi-final 1 (A1 v B2), Abu Dhabi (18h00)
11 Nov: Semi-final 2 (B1 v A2), Dubai (18h00)
14 Nov: Final, Dubai (18h00)
