Nakul Shivani/ New Delhi

The Eighth edition of the ICC Men’s T20 cricket world cup starts on Sunday in Australia.

The inaugural group match will be played between Sri Lanka and Namibia at the Kardinia Park in Geelong. India starts its campaign with a Super 12 stage match against Pakistan on October 23. Here’s all you need to know about the tournament.

Key Facts:

Defending Champions: Australia

Prize money: Winner – USD 1.6 mn; Runner-up – USD 8,00,000; Losing Semifinalist – USD 4,00,000 each

No. of Teams: 16; No. of matches: 45

Venues:

7 cities across Australia. The round-robin matches will be played at the Gabba in Brisbane, Kardinia Park in Geelong, Bellerive in Hobart and the Perth Stadium. The semifinals will be played at the Adelaide Oval and the Sydney Cricket Ground. Melbourne will host the final on November 13.

Format:

There will be three stages to this edition of the tournament. The first round will see two groups of four teams each playing in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each of the group will move to the Super 12 stage.

The eight teams participating in this round are: Group A – Sri Lanka, Namibia, Netherlands and UAE; Group B – Scotland, West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe.

The four teams from this stage will join eight teams in the Super 12 stage who have earned a direct qualification to this round. The 8 countries who are waiting to know who all will join them from the group stage are: Group1 – Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan and England; Group 2 – India, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh.

The six teams in each Group 1 and 2 will play in a round-robin format to decide the top two placed countries in each group who will qualify for the knock-out semifinals. The eventual winner will be decided by match between the winner of each semifinal.

Key Dates:

First round – Oct 16 – 22; Super 12 – Oct 23 – Nov 6; Semifinals – Nov 9-10; Final – Nov 13

India’s schedule:

Oct 23 vs Pakistan in Melbourne

Oct 27 vs Runner-up from Group A in Sydney

Oct 30 vs South Africa in Perth

Nov 2 vs Bangladesh in Adelaide

Nov 6 vs Winner of Group B in Melbourne

Where to watch in India:

Star Network

India at the T20 WC:

2007, South Africa: India defeated Pakistan to lift the inaugural edition of the T20 world cup.

2009, England: Exited in the Super 8 stage

2010, West Indies: Knocked out in the Super 8 stage

2012, Sri Lanka: Did not move beyond the Super 8 stage

2014, Bangladesh: Runner-up to Sri Lanka

2016, India: Lost in the semifinal to West Indie

2021, UAE & Oman: Knocked out in the Super 12 stage

ALSO READ: Hijab-clad weightlifter Salbeena eyes Olympic medal

Indian squad for T20 WC 2022:

Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami.