For a month or so, many of
us had a standard diet – watching IPL daily and getting entertained – IPL 2024
concluded with a brutal assault by KKR defeating Sun Risers – now June 2024
promises to be another month of wholesome Cricket entertainment. This time in West Indies and United States of
America - but the timings (Indian time)
would be too different !
Eisenhower Park, is a public park in East Meadow, New York home to
the September 11th Memorial for residents of Nassau County. All eyes would be here on 9th June
2024 – as at Nassau County International
Cricket Stadium built on the grounds of Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New
York, in Nassau County on Long Island would be played the all important India –
Pakistan match. This stadium will host eight group stage matches. Following
the tournament, the modular architecture will be removed while leaving the
outfield intact as a legacy, and its natural grass drop-in pitch will be
replaced by an artificial turf version.
Just in case you don’t
know – ICC 50 overs World Cup is played every 4 years starting from 1975, while
ICC T20 WC is held every two years.
Indian fans
always remember that inaugural WC of 2007 when MS Dhoni led them to a title win
– beating Pakistan in the finals. In 2009, Pakistan, cefeated Sri Lanka; next year, England won defeating Australia;
2012 was won by West Indies beating Sri lanka; 5th in 2014 – Lankans
defeated India; in 2016 West Indies beat England; in 2021 Australia defeated
New Zealand and in 2022 England beat Pakistan.
The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World
Cup will be the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup, to be
co-hosted by the West Indies and the United States from 2 to 29 June 2024. The tournament hosts a record 20 teams - an expansion from 16 teams at the 2022
tournament; that includes two hosts, the
top eight teams from the 2022 edition, the next two teams in the ICC Men's T20I
Team Rankings, and eight teams determined by regional qualifiers. Canada and
Uganda qualified for the men's T20 World Cup for the first time, while the
United States is participating for the first time by virtue of being
co-host.
A former British colony with
a substantial South Asian diaspora population (both before and after the Idi
Amin dictatorship, during which Asians were expelled from the country), Uganda qualified
ahead of Zimbabwe via the Africa Qualifier tournament last year, where they
beat Zimbabwe by five wickets and finished second on the seven-team points
table. The only side they lost to were fellow qualifiers Namibia; they
convincingly beat all other opposition, including their once-up-and-coming
neighbours, Kenya.
Other than the
hype that India Pakistan match will generate, both teams are likely to have it
easy as there are 4 groups and the top 2 from each group would quality for the
next round.
In Group A –
the teams are : India, Pakistan, Canada,
Ireland and United States. After the group stage, the top two teams
in each group will be placed into two groups of four teams in the Super 8
stage. This will be played as a single round-robin, with the top two teams in
each group advancing to the knockout stage. If they advance from the group
stage, seeded teams will be placed in pre-determined positions, regardless of
whether they finish first or second in their group.
Thus when India and Pakistan
end up 1 & 2 – the would not play each other in group 8
Interesting !
With
regards – S Sampathkumar
29.5.2024
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