The biggest franchise league in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL), is currently providing plenty of thrills and action to cricket fans all over the globe.
With so much cricket to unpack already, the focus has still somewhat been on what lies ahead immediately after the conclusion of IPL 2024: the T20 World Cup.
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India, as always, will be among the favourites for the tournament, along with Australia (2021 champions), England (defending champions having won in 2022), New Zealand (India’s T20 WC nemeses and 2021 runners-up), and Pakistan (2022 runners-up).
India last played a T20I in January, when they welcomed Afghanistan for three T20Is. They won’t be playing any more T20Is before the World Cup.
How prepared, though, will their biggest opponents at the T20 World Cup be heading into the tournament? The Sporting News takes a look.
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Australia won’t be playing any T20I games before the T20 World Cup. They faced New Zealand and West Indies in three T20Is each in February in their previous T20I assignments.
They will directly play the warm-up games, the schedule for which will be announced by the ICC in the coming days.
Their first game at the 2024 T20 World Cup is against Oman on June 6 at the Kensington Oval, Barbados.
Australia’s neighbours New Zealand will also not be playing any games before the T20 World Cup, with the warm-up games set to be their only piece of prep for the tournament.
They are currently in Pakistan, playing them in a five-match T20I series with the series level at 1-1.
Their first game at the 2024 T20 World Cup is against Afghanistan on June 8 at the Providence Oval, Guyana.
As mentioned above, Pakistan are currently taking on New Zealand in a bilateral T20I series, with two more games to go.
They are slated to tour the United Kingdom (UK) in May – where they’ll take on Ireland in three T20Is followed by a four-match T20I series against England – before they fly to the Americas for the T20 World Cup. Here’s the schedule for the upcoming T20I assignments of Pakistan:
Pakistan will play their first game at the T20 World Cup on June 6 against USA, which will take place at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas.
England’s only T20Is before the 2024 T20 World Cup will come against Pakistan in the four-match T20I series, which begins on May 22.
Their first game at the 2024 T20 World Cup is against Scotland on June 4 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
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Parshva is a Content Producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.
