India to face Pakistan at MCG while UAE also eye trip to T20 World Cup in Australia

National team face a qualifying tournament in Oman next month to make it to the main event

Ahmed Raza’s UAE play in an eight-team T20 World Cup qualifying competition in Oman next month. Pawan Singh / The National

UAE will next month be hoping to book a trip to either Geelong or Hobart in October, after the fixtures for the 2022 T20 World Cup were announced.

The national team will be vying for one of the four qualification places on offer for the opening round of the main event, which will be staged in Australia from October 16 to November 13.

Ahmed Raza’s side play at an eight-team competition in Muscat next month. The two finalists in that tournament will advance to the main event, while a similar qualifying event will take place later in the year in Zimbabwe to decide the last two places.

UAE are pitched in a group with Ireland, their regular rivals with whom they drew in one-day international cricket last year, then beat in a T20 series ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup. They then face fixtures against Germany and Philippines for the first time.

Two of the four qualifying sides will join a group including Sri Lanka and Namibia in the first round of the World Cup. Those matches will be played at Kardinia Park in Geelong.

The other two qualifiers will play against West Indies and Scotland, with matches to be staged at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.

India and Pakistan will renew their rivalry when they meet at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday 23 October.

Australia, the hosts and defending champions, will play England at the same venue on Friday 28 October.

South Africa and Bangladesh, plus the winner of Group B and runner-up in Group A from the First Round, make up India and Pakistan’s group.

New Zealand and Afghanistan plus the winner of Group A and the runner-up in Group B, complete Australia and England’s group.