The 20-team roster for the next ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be held in 2024 got finalised on Thursday when Uganda created history by securing their maiden qualification for the big-ticket tournament in the game's shortest format.
Uganda and table-toppers Namibia are the two teams that came through the Africa qualifier event, which meant Test nation Zimbabwe missed out on qualification.
Two points
1. USA will host a top-tier ICC event for the first time, with the West Indies joining them as the co-hosts.
2. It will be the first occasion when a T20 World Cup will see as many as 20 teams competing
The 20 teams
Here's the list of 20 teams who will be seen at the T20 World Cup next year:
Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea , Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Uganda, USA
The list includes the two hosts, teams finishing in the top eight at the 2022 T20 World Cup, two next best on T20I rankings and the qualifiers from Americas (1), Asia (2), East Asia-Pacific (1), Europe (2) and Africa (2).
The new format
With as many as 20 teams competing, the format will feature an initial group stage, involving four groups of five teams each. The top two from each group will progress to the 'Super Eight' stage.
There will be two groups of four teams each in the 'Super Eight' phase of the tournament. The top two teams from both the groups will qualify for the semi-finals, followed by the final.
