ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 – How teams have Qualified

In just a few days, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will begin with 16 nations from all around the world converging on Australia for a battle for the ultimate prize.

While this might be the beginning of the quest for World Cup glory for some teams, it might also be the end of what has already been a long journey for others.

Here’s how all the teams made it to T20 World Cup 2022

Australia

This year’s edition of the tournament will be hosted by Australia, which automatically qualifies for the event. It will be the first time they return to their home soil and attempt to retain the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup trophy, as they seek to become the first-ever team.

New Zealand

There are 11 teams who qualified automatically for the next edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with the top eight teams entering the Super 12 stage based on their results from the previous edition. After reaching the last year’s final, New Zealand automatically qualified for this year’s ICC major event. It will now be hoped that this will be the start of a new era for this nation.

England

England was yet another automatic qualifier, and their semi-final exit in 2021 was enough to make sure they would have a chance to qualify again this year. In 2016, the 2010 champions also made it to the final of the tournament where they narrowly lost to the West Indies, and they will be hoping to avenge their defeat one year ago by reaching the final this time around.

Pakistan

During the 2021 World Cup in Australia, Pakistan played a spine-tingling run to the semi-finals which secured their place in the finals in 2022. For the first time since 2009, they have won all five of their group stage games, making it their best result since 2012, and will be looking to maintain the momentum as they strive for their first title since that time.

South Africa

Last year the Proteas were agonizingly close to making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup, but they were able to comfortably secure their place on the starting line in Australia this year.

Despite reaching the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on two occasions – in 2009 and 2014 – South Africa was unable to win the tournament due to losing out to Pakistan and India, respectively.

India

Last year, India finished third in their group and missed out on getting the semi-finals, but they were still able to ensure that they would return to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup as the third-place finish was enough to guarantee their return.

There was no doubt that India’s Super 12 exit last year was due to defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand, but they’ll be more motivated than ever to put that right before the World Cup begins.

Afghanistan

The Afghan side booked a place in Australia automatically as one of the eight best teams from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 based on their ranking.

In order to reach the semi-finals for the first time, they will need to secure a Super 12 spot to do so.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh finished bottom of Group 1 with five defeats, which means that if they can finish in the top eight, they will have an opportunity to make amends in the Super 12 stage.

To be able to reach the knockout stages of the tournament, the team will have to defeat India, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, among others.

Sri Lanka

Having finished fourth in Group 1 of the Super 12 stage in the year 2021, the 2014 champions have qualified automatically for the 2022 edition thanks to their fourth-place finish.

The Lions were able to make sure that they were back in the playoffs again, and they will hope to do so with the same level of aplomb that they showed last time as they navigated the First Round.

West Indies

The West Indies are the only team to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup twice, but unfortunately, they were not able to make it work in the UAE and Oman as they finished fifth in group 1.

As a result, they qualified for the Australian Open, but they will be faced with the first round to take part in a run at a third championship.

Namibia

The Namibian team finished fifth in Group 2 in 2021, which was enough for Namibia to automatically qualify for the competition in Australia this year as one of the teams ranked ninth to 12th in the group.

After winning their first match of the tournament against Scotland during the Super 12 stage, Namibia finished an already fantastic debut campaign with a win against the Scots and will return to Australia in the hopes of building on their success.

Scotland

With a convincing victory over their opponents in the First Round of the 2021 T20 World Cup, Scotland booked their place at the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

In an impressive six-run victory over Bangladesh, they were able to finish ahead of the Tigers, as both of the teams advanced to the Super 12 ahead of Oman and Papua New Guinea.

Ireland

After finishing second in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier A, Ireland ensured their place in Australia with their second-place finish.

Despite losing to the United Arab Emirates, Ireland was able to ensure that they would be able to take part in the event for the sixth time.

Netherlands

With the Netherlands finishing second in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier B, they have secured their tickets for the tournament in Australia.

After a challenging 2021 campaign, they were able to earn their place back in the 2022 edition thanks to a seven-wicket win over the USA in the semi-final.

United Arab Emirates

By winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier A in 2022, the UAE ensured they would be able to get in on the action during the 2022 World Cup having played host in 2021.

After winning over Nepal in the semi-final, the UAE ensured that they were going to be at their first T20 World Cup since 2015 and then added a further flourish to the achievement by defeating Ireland in the final.

Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwe Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier B match saw the side win by 37 runs over the Netherlands, and it felt like a seminal moment for a country that has faced a lot of difficulties on the field in recent years, but has now bounced back in style with qualification for the World Cup.