T20 World Cup fixture released as India get dream draw

Rohit Sharma

ICC T20 World Cup fancy India has been dealt a favourable draw for next year’s tournament to be played in Australia.

The subcontinental powerhouse has been drawn in Group 2 which features a much-improved England, South Africa, dangerous Afghanistan and two qualifiers who won’t be known until next year.

Host nation Australia will have to contend with the top-ranked T20 outfit Pakistan, defending champion West Indies, New Zealand and two qualifiers in its Super 12 stage.

Read more: How to bet on cricket

The eight top-ranked teams in the world qualify automatically for the T20 World Cup which will run from October 18 to November 15, 2020. Each team that qualifies for the Super 12 stage of the tournament will play five group matches, while the semi-finals will be held in Adelaide and Sydney with the final to be played at the MCG on November 15.

The only seeds for the tournament are Pakistan and India courtesy of being ranked one and two, meaning they were automatically placed in separate groups, while the remainder of the fixture was drawn randomly.

Australia will open the Super 12s stage of the tournament on October 24 under lights at the Sydney Cricket Ground against Pakistan, while later in the day India will clash with South Africa to open proceedings in the other group at Optus Stadium in Perth.

The remarkable story to come out of the past few years in international T20 cricket has been the rise of Afghanistan which has qualified straight into the main component of the tournament, ahead of teams such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who will have to fight their way through qualifying.

The qualifying will begin on October 18, 2020, and will run until the 23rd with four teams to earn their way into the main draw.

Betting on the T20 World Cup 2020

Most online betting sites already have a market framed for the overall winner of the tournament, including the major bookies serving Australia, England, India and South Africa. Remarkably, despite ordinary form in the shortest form of the game, Australia shares favouritism with India to win the tournament, largely because of it being held in their home conditions.

As the tournament draws closer more markets surrounding the tournament will be released, including leading run-scorer and wicket-taker markets, player of the tournament and many, many more.

Outright winner odds

Australia $4.50
India $4.50
England $6
New Zealand $7
Pakistan $7
South Africa $7
West Indies $8
Sri Lanka $21
Afghanistan $67
Bangladesh $67
Zimbabwe $301
Ireland $426
Scotland $426

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