ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will award $1.6 million to the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup champions on November 13, 2022. The total prize pot of $5.6 million will see the runners-up assured of $800,000 and the losing semi-finalists will receive $400,000 each at the end of the 45-match tournament being played across seven venues in Australia from 16 October, 2022.

Four teams, in particular, seem to be in contention for the prize money as well as the bragging rights.

Australia, ranked sixth in the ICC T20I rankings and the defending Champions from 2021, will go into the tournament as favourites to maintain their domination in this format. India recently beat Australia 2-1 in a recently concluded T20 bilateral series played in India. England and Pakistan have had an extremely absorbing contest as those nations have been finalising their preparations during the T20 series played in Pakistan.

One can never write off New Zealand, while Afghanistan, Bangladesh and South Africa are the other teams who have already reserved their spots to start their tournament at the Super 12 stage.

There will be eight teams, divided in two groups of four, will battle it out to earn a spot in the Super 12. They are: Namibia, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Scotland, the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Sri Lanka has played very well in the shortest format of the game. The island nation won the Asia Cup comprehensively, defeating India and Pakistan along the way.

Fans from India and Pakistan had high hopes for their respective nations, however, Sri Lanka proved their mettle in the Asia Cup and emerged as the dark horses of the tournament. Sri Lanka would be facing the United Arab Emirates, Namibia, and the Netherlands in their group to move to the next stage and given their recent performances, it would be safe to assume that they will be through.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe and the West Indies will be considered favourites in their group although Ireland and Scotland certainly may have other ideas. The West Indies, the only team to have won the ICC Twenty20 World Cup twice, continue to show their unpredictability in this format of late. However, the men in maroon have not shown consistency in this format of the game and will have to win in their qualifying matches to compete at the next level. Their much talked about individual brilliance oftentimes does not transform into collective success, which is quite baffling.

The eighth edition of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup will present challenges to all teams, especially given the increasing number of competitive matches being played. Test cricket appears to be relegated to the back seat and most of the  younger generation of cricket fans certainly have not raised their eyebrows. After having won the inaugural 2007 Twenty20 World Cup, fans from India certainly want their team to bring the cup back to India.

With multiple T20 events having mushroomed all across the world, this format of the sport has become the fan favourite. And with just a few weeks to go, several teams will be vying for the coveted trophy on November 13.