Amid reports of either South Africa or India-A being Team India’s opponent in their sole practice match ahead of the showpiece event, South Africa is zeroed in as India’s warm-up fixture opponent, with Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium slated to host this contest on February 4, three days before India’s opener against the USA. India and South Africa faced off in a five-match bilateral T20Is late last year, with India winning 3-1.
While India-A is one of the teams for warm-up fixtures (against the USA in Navi Mumbai and Namibia in Bengaluru), two former winners among the three teams, including Australia, England and New Zealand, decided not to play any before the tournament.
Australia take on Pakistan in away T20Is, a three-match series concluding February 1, while England will wrap its T20I series against Sri Lanka a day later.
Sri Lanka, however, will host Oman on February 3 in Colombo in their only warm-up fixture. New Zealand, on the other hand, will play no cricket following the final T20I against India on January 31.
Here is the full list of T20 World Cup warm-up fixtures –
- February 2 – Afghanistan vs Scotland – Bengaluru – 3 PM
- February 2 – India A vs USA – Navi Mumbai – 5 PM
- February 2 – Canada vs Italy – Chennai – 7 PM
- February 3 – Sri Lanka A vs Oman – Colombo – 1 PM
- February 3 – Netherlands vs Zimbabwe – Colombo – 3 PM
- February 3 – Nepal vs UAE – Chennai – 5 PM
- February 4 – Namibia vs Scotland – Bengaluru – 1 PM
- February 4 – Afghanistan vs West Indies – Bengaluru – 3 PM
- February 4 – Ireland vs Pakistan – Colombo – 5 PM
- February 4 – India vs South Africa – Navi Mumbai – 7 PM
- February 5 – Oman vs Zimbabwe – Colombo – 1 PM
- February 5 – Canada vs Nepal – Chennai – 3 PM
- February 5 – New Zealand vs USA – Navi Mumbai – 5 PM
- February 6 – Italy vs UAE – Chennai – 3 PM
- February 6 – India A vs Namibia – Bengaluru – 5 PM
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s participation remains subject to clearance from its government, as the PCB claims to reveal its final decision on Friday or Monday. Although following Bangladesh’s exit, Pakistan pulling out looks like a distant thought, should that happen, the ICC has reportedly kept Bangladesh on standby to replace Pakistan in Group A.