With the end of 2018 and the beginning of the New Year 2019, the International Cricket Council has confirmed the direct qualifier teams of 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup that will be played in Australia between 18 October and 15 November 2019.
The top eight T20I ranked teams as on 31 December 2018, including the hosts Australia (T20I rank: 4), have directly qualified for the Super 12 round of the 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. According to the latest ICC T20I rankings these teams are Pakistan, India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Windies and Afghanistan.
The 2014 World T20 winner Sri Lanka (no.9 T20I ranking) and the no.10 T20I ranked Bangladesh have qualified for the eight teams’ group stage competition of the tournament. Now, six more teams will join in this stage who will be qualified from the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier that will be played earlier of that big competition.
The top four teams in the eight teams’ group stage competition of the 2020 ICC T20 WC will take the last four places of the Super 12 stage. The detailed schedule of the main tournament or Qualifier hasn’t announced yet.
After failing to make the direct entry in the Super 12 stage, the Sri Lankan T20I captain Lasith Malinga has felt disappointed. However, he is confident to do well in the tournament and will reach the further round of the tournament.
Malinga said, “It is a bit disappointing that we have not been able to ensure a direct Super 12s berth but I’m confident that we will do well in the tournament. Having played three finals and winning once, it is natural that everyone expected us to finish in the top-eight but we have to take the opportunity in the extra matches of the group stage and prepare well for the knock-out matches.
“We have some fine players in the ranks and it is only a matter of doing our best when the time comes. We look forward to challenges coming our way as we prepare for the big event.”
On the other hand, the Bangladesh T20I skipper Shakib Al Hasan also had a similar reaction like Malinga after failing to make the direct entry in the Super 12 stage of 2020 T20 WC.
Shakib told, “We have not secured a direct Super 12s berth but I’m confident that we will do well in the tournament by going through the group stage. We are a side capable of beating the best on our day and I see no reason why we can’t go far in the tournament. There is still some time and we will use it to be at our best for the T20 World Cup. We won a T20 series against the West Indies, the world champions, in their backward not so long ago. That performance has given us a lot of belief in our Twenty20 capabilities.”
As 2019 has started on Tuesday, all the 104 ICC members have now earned the T20I status. Earlier, there were only 18 top ICC members who had the T20I status, including all the 12 full members. Now, other 92 Associate members have also gained the T20I status from 1 January 2019.
