T20 World Cup 2021: ICC places Pakistan, India in same group

• ICC announces Men's T20 World Cup groups
• Australia, England, South Africa and the West Indies have been placed in one group of Super12s.
• Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and New Zealand in the other Super 12s group.
• This is first multi-team event that ICC will oragnise since the COVID-19 pandemic.

DUBAI: India and Pakistan will face off in the Super 12s stage of the 2021 men's T20 World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced Friday.

The ICC announced the groups for the first round and the Super 12s stage of the tournament — which is the first multi-team event that the cricket body will oragnise since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The groups, selected on the basis of team rankings as of 20 March 2021, see defending champions the West Indies pooled along with former champions England, Australia and South Africa in Group 1 of the Super 12s, with two qualifiers from Round 1 joining them.

Group 2 will comprise former champions India and Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, and the other two qualifiers from Round 1. 

Eight teams will contest the first round including automatic qualifiers Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with the remaining six who booked their spot through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019. 

Ireland, Netherlands and Namibia join Sri Lanka in Group A, whilst Oman, PNG and Scotland will face Bangladesh in Group B.

It is pertinent to mention that the tournament is being held in the UAE and Oman from October 17 to November 14 after it was shifted from India due to the pandemic.

The groupings:

Round 1

Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands and Namibia

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

Super 12s

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

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