Daily Times

LAHORE: West Indies and Sri Lanka will both have to play an additional qualifying round to make the Super 12s in next year’s Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, while Bangladesh and Afghanistan are assured of direct entry.The automatic qualifiers for the Super 12s in 2022 were determined to be the winner and runner-up of the ongoing T20 World Cup, alongside the next six highest-ranked teams. Going into Saturday’s games, six teams — England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia — had already done enough to ensure their ICC T20I rankings were high enough to seal a Super 12s spot next year.

West Indies’ eight-wicket defeat to Australia on Saturday, however, meant that they slipped to 10th in the rankings, while Sri Lanka dropped to ninth. Benefitting at the two teams’ expense is Bangladesh, who rose to eighth despite losing all their matches in the Super 12s, on the back of recent home-series wins over Australia and New Zealand. Afghanistan, who are currently seventh on the table, will occupy the other automatic spot in the Super 12s.

West Indies, who are two-time champions at the T20 World Cup, lost four of their five matches in the 2021 edition, a notable low coming in their opening game against England when they were bundled out for 55. Sri Lanka performed marginally better, registering victories over both Bangladesh and West Indies, but defeats to England, South Africa and Australia meant they were denied a place in the semis.Joining West Indies and Sri Lanka in the first round of the 2022 T20 World Cup will be Scotland and Namibia — two teams who advanced out of the first round and into the Super 12s during the ongoing edition — as well as four qualifiers.