New York confirmed as T20 World Cup venue for rivals India and Pakistan
India and Pakistan are in the same group for this year’s men’s Twenty20 World Cup and will meet in a marquee match in New York, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Friday.
The match will take place on 9 June as first revealed by the Guardian. England and Australia were also pitted together when the fixtures were announced for the tournament being held in the Caribbean and the United States from 1-29 June. The India v Pakistan game will be played in a 34,000-seat modular stadium which will host eight matches.
England will start their trophy defence with an all-British clash against Scotland. The Group B match will take place in Barbados on 4 June. The holders will remain in Barbados to play Australia on 8 June before heading to Antigua to take on Oman (13 June) and Namibia (15 June). Scotland meet Namibia in Barbados on 6 June before playing Oman in Antigua (9 June) and Australia in St Lucia (15 June). Ireland have been drawn in Group A alongside India, Pakistan, Canada and the US, with two games in New York and two in Florida.
A record 20 teams were split into four groups with 55 games to be played in the month-long tournament, with the top two from each group qualifying for the Super Eight round. “The ICC men’s T20 World Cup marks an exciting expansion of our sport with more teams than ever before set to compete in this event,” said the ICC chief executive, Geoff Allardice. “It’s going to be an incredible spectacle bringing together 20 international teams from Africa, the Americas, Asia, East-Asia Pacific and Europe.”
Meanwhile, the England batter Joe Root and all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt have been shortlisted for two further ICC awards. Root has been nominated for the ICC men’s Test cricketer of the year alongside India’s Ravi Ashwin and the Australian pair of Travis Head and Usman Khawaja. The 33-year-old Yorkshireman scored 787 runs in the format last year, scoring two centuries alongside five half-centuries. He recorded a high score of 153 not out against New Zealand in February and was part of the England side who came from 2-0 down
to draw the Ashes over the summer.
Sciver-Brunt has been nominated for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC women’s cricketer of the year following her shortlisting for ICC women’s ODI cricketer of the year. The all-rounder is contending for the top award with Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu and the Australians Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney.
Sciver-Brunt, 31, has excelled in all three formats over the year and will be looking to retain the title she earned in 2022 as well as the ODI cricketer of the year crown. England’s Lauren Bell has been shortlisted for emerging women’s cricketer of the year while the spinner Sophie Ecclestone will be looking to land the women’s T20I cricketer of the year award.