With the T20 World Cup just a few short days away, the predictions have started rolling in on who will be making their way to the latter half of the tournament. Former England batter Michael Vaughan was the latest to predict the semifinalists, selecting hosts India, 2010 and 2022 champions England, 2021 winners Australia and perpetual dark horses New Zealand.
“My 4 T20 World Cup semi finalists will be … India , England , NZ & Australia,” Vaughan posted on X on Monday. The 10th edition of the tournament will replicate the 2024 World Cup format. This includes nine of the top 10-ranked T20I sides, with the exception of Bangladesh, who were replaced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Scotland, after refusing to travel to India for their group games amid ongoing political tensions.
The group stage will comprise four pools of five teams in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will proceed to the Super 8 stage.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will enter the Super 8s based on their pre-determined seedings allotted by the ICC. The eight teams will be segregated into two groups of four – Group 1 and Group 2 – from which the top two teams will further advance into the semi-finals.
India, who are the defending champions, are in Group A alongside Pakistan, Netherlands, Namibia and USA. They start their campaign against the USA on February 7th, then face Namibia on February 12. They are scheduled to play arch-rivals Pakistan on February 15th in Colombo but the status of the match is up in the air with the Pakistan government announcing that the team will boycott the match. If so, India will get a walkover and then end their group stage assignments on February 18 against Netherlands.
England, meanwhile, are in Group C where they will be facing Nepal (February 8), West Indies (February 11), Scotland (February 14) and Italy (February 16). Australia are in Group B and will take on Ireland (February 11), Zimbabwe (February 13), Sri Lanka (February 16) and Oman (February 20).
New Zealand are in a bit of a tricky Group which is D where they will be locking horns against Afghanistan (February 8), UAE (February 10), South Africa (February 14) and Canada (February 17).