The wait is over and the stage is being set for the twenty20 championship of 2016. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule and fixture for the upcoming ICC World Twenty20 tournament on Friday making it clear that the tournament is scheduled to be played in India across eight venues from March 8 onwards. The contest will run for around 27 days and the grand finale of the tournament will take place in the majestic Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata.
ICC World Twenty20 2016
ICC has also disclosed that the championship will have 35 nail-biting T20 contests. It is touted as the mini world cup being held after every couple of years. This time, this coveted tournament will be played at 8 venues in India such as Dharamsala, Kolkata, Chennai, New Delhi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Mohali and Bengaluru. Most of the matches will be played day-night.
The most exciting part of the championship is the India-Pakistan clash which is going to take place in Dharamsala on March 19, 2016. Again, both the arch rivals are placed in the Super 10’s Group B. As per the schedule India will begin its campaign against New Zealand in Nagpur on March 15th and three days later, the two Asian giants India and Pakistan will lock horns against each other in a high voltage drama in Dharamsala. The key players from India would be Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Mahandra Singh Dhoni and Ravishchandra Ashwin. It is expected that these players will play extraordinarily to help India win this T20 World Cup.
There will be two semi-finals in the gala contest; 1st semi-final will be played in New Delhi on 30th March while the 2nd semi-final will take place in Mumbai on 31st March. The current World T20 champion Sri-Lanka will launch its campaign on March 17 and will definitely try everything possible to defend the trophy. But they will not face India in the preliminary league stage since both the neighbours placed in different groups.
The format is little different this time. In the preliminary round there will be two groups consisting of four teams each. The top two teams from both groups will join Super 10 Stage (two groups of five teams). Then top two teams from Super 10 Group A and Super 10 Group B will reach into the semis.
The top two teams winning the semi-finals will then clash against each other for the World Twenty20 2016 trophy at the Grand finale event to be played at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 3, 2016.
ICC has revealed that there is a whopping 86 per cent increment in the total prize money from that of its last edition held in Bangladesh a couple of years back. Total prize money around 6 Million USD will be at stake this time.
Tags: Dharamsala, Fixtures, ICC, ICC World Twenty20 2016, India, International Cricket Council, Pakistan, Schedule
