ICC announces T20 Men's, Women's World Cup 2020 fixtures

The fixtures for the ICC T20 World Cup Australia 2020 were revealed in Sydney on Tuesday morning. For the first time, the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups will be held as standalone events in the same year and in the same country. The finals of both the premier events will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The ICC Women's T20 World Cup will begin on February 21, 2020, with the final being played on March 8. The 10 top women’s teams will contest 23 matches. The Men's T20 World Cup 2020 will be played from October 18 to November 15 later in the year and the 16 best men’s teams will play 45 matches.

Both the tournaments will be played across 13 venues in Australia with as many as eight host cities. The men's team led by Virat Kohli will begin their campaign against South Africa in the Perth Stadium on October 24. The women's team led by Harmanpreet Kaur will take on Australia in the tournament opener on February 21. A spectacular opening for the women’s T20 World Cup will be held at Sydney Showground Stadium featuring hosts and reigning champions Australia taking on India. On the men’s side, hosts Australia will play the world’s top-ranked team, Pakistan, at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in the first Super 12 match of the tournament.

ICC T20 World Cup Australia 2020 Local Organising Committee CEO Nick Hockley said: “We’re so excited to be able to let fans all around Australia and the world know when and where their teams will play, so they can start planning now.

“World Cups are all about bringing people together. We know that passionate fans of all generations and cultures will travel from near and far to support their teams and that they will receive the warmest of welcomes in our wonderful host cities.”

Here's how the teams will be grouped for the @ICC Women's #T20WorldCup 2020 in Australia! What will the key match-ups be? pic.twitter.com/EOt8MC8NP4

— ICC T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) January 28, 2019

The top eight ranked teams in the current ICC T20 rankings have directly qualified for the World Cup while Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who are currently placed ninth and tenth in the ICC T20 rankings, are currently only the two known qualifiers who will take part in the First round qualifiers of the men's tournament. The remaining six teams will be decided via a qualifying tournament which will take place in 2019. Two teams each from Group A and Group B will make it to Super 12.