Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka can only qualify for the main round if they win the T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
The Sri Lankan team won the 2022 Asia Cup unexpectedly. Defeated Pakistan by 23 runs in the final. It has won the Asia Cup for the 6th time.
Did you know that the Sri Lankan team that won the Asia Cup did not qualify directly for the T20 World Cup? You can only qualify for the main round by playing and winning the qualifiers.
Why? Why did this happen?
The T20 World Cup is being held in Australia. A total of 45 matches will be played in Adelaide, Brisbane, Keelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The semi-finals will be played in Sydney and Adelaide on November 9 and 10. The final will be played at Melbourne Stadium.
Australia, India, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, Pakistan and South Africa have qualified directly for the main round. The remaining 4 teams will qualify for the main round through the first round.
How did those 8 teams qualify for the main round? Why should big teams like Sri Lanka and West Indies play in qualifiers?
Australia and New Zealand qualified for the finals of the 2021 T20 World Cup and qualified directly for the 2022 T20 World Cup. The remaining 6 teams were selected based on the rankings as on 15th November 2021.
The 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup winners West Indies were ranked 10th and the 2014-2014 T20 World Cup winners Sri Lanka were ranked 9th. This is why the two big teams have to play in the qualifiers.
The first round, which will be held in Australia from October 16 to 21, will feature 8 teams namely West Indies, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Out of these 8 teams, 4 teams will qualify for the main round.
The first match of the main round will be between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney on October 22 and India and Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23.