West Indies is the only team to win the Twenty20 World Cup twice, and 2014 champion Sri Lanka is the only three time finalist in the championship for international cricket's shortest format.
Even with those credentials, two of the game's traditional entertainers are having to go through a preliminary stage with the lower ranked teams to earn a spot in the T20 world cup's main round.
The tournament before the tournament starts on Sunday, with Sri Lanka opening Group-A against Namibia at Kardinia park in Geelong.
Nicholas Pooran will lead West Indies against Scotland at Hobart in Group-B on Monday.
Provided the West Indies and Sri Lanka finish in the top two in their four-team groups next week, they'll join the top eight-ranked teams in the super 12 stage.
Jos Buttler England squad starts its bid to become dual white-ball world champions against Afghanistan on October 22. South Africa and Bangladesh are the other two teams already qualified.
The first phase includes eight teams seeded into two groups, with the top two advancing to the super 12s.
A Sri Lanka line up led by Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga should dominate Group-A which contains Netherlands and United Arab Emirates as well as Nambia. Group-B is likely to be a tougher contest, with Ireland and Zimbabwe joining West Indies and Scotland.
Timing is everything with the new regulations introduced since the last T20 World Cup--the biggest being the in match penalty for slow over-rates.
The failure of the fielding team to bowl their schedule overs on time now leads to on time now leads to an additional fielder being forced inside the in-field circle for the remaining overs of the innings. That can leave some wide-open space in the outfield just when batters are trying to slog boundaries.
Also, there'll be no more wires crossed when it comes to which batter takes strike after a catch is completed. Under the old rules, if the batters crossed before the ball was caught, the new player to the crease could go to the non-striker's end. Under the revision, the incoming batter must always go to the striker's end. That nullifies one of potential tactic of getting an in-form batter on strike during partnership with tailenders.
In other changes, umpires will have the authority to award five penalty runs to the batting seem if a fielder is deemed to have moved unfairly or deliberately distracted a batter while the bowler is in the run-up phase; and run-out regulations have been clarified to remove the "unfair play" section and my ambiguity when it comes to bowlers running out of their ground at the non-striker's end.
The lack of favourite tag doesn't bother New Zealand Capitan Kane Williamson who said the team "doesn't really have a choice in what people call" it heading into the T20 world cup. "We come here and try and focus on the cricket that we want to play and address what's in front of us,"he said at the captian' metting on Saturday.
Australia skipper Aaron Finch revealed that he was making some technical changes I've been trying to make...yeah, I feel I am ready for World Cup,"said Finch. Australia begins the defence of its title against New Zealand on October 22 In Sydney
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