Teams, format, match-ups: All to know about the T20 World Cup Super Eights

What’s the schedule and path to the final? Will holders England face favourites India or unification hopefuls Australia? What are Afghanistan’s chances?

The ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2024 – cricket’s biggest tournament – has reached the Super Eights stage in the United States and the West Indies.

The 20-team competition has slimmed to eight teams and there have already been major shocks and eliminations in the group stages.

Here’s what you need to know about the next phase of the tournament:

The top two teams from each of the initial four groups have qualified, with the most notable omissions being Pakistan and New Zealand:

Following the four groups of five that began the tournament, the structure now reduces to two groups of four – the Super Eights.

Each team will play each other once in their respective groups with the top two teams from each qualifying for the semifinals.

The Super Eights will be played from June 18 to June 25.

The tournament, which opened on June 2 at the Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie, Dallas, has moved from the United States and will now be fully played in the Caribbean. Four venues will be used in Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Saint Vincent.

The semifinals will be played on June 27 in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana respectively. The final in Barbados will take place on June 29.

In an edition littered with shocks and upsets, including the biggest in the tournament’s history when USA beat Pakistan, every game appears to have an even greater value placed on it now.

The USA, much as they did in the group stage, will open the next round against South Africa on Wednesday. The Proteas claimed four wins from their four games in the group but each was a tight scrap rather than the stroll