T20 World Cup winners get a record $2.45 million (USD) prize money Overall, $11.25 million in the prize pot as runners-up get at least $1.28 million Every participating team to get a minimum of $225,000
New York: Cricket and money move hand in hand. As the game spreads its wings to virgin territories, the prize money, too, keeps growing. The latest is the T20 World Cup held jointly by the USA and West Indies. Not only the winners but all participating teams of the 9th edition of this marquee event will get a record cash back ever heard before.
With the top 20 teams featuring in the 2024 edition, all eyes are set on India, the winners of the inaugural edition in 2007, and its neighbour and arch-rival, Pakistan besides the defending champions England and the co-host West Indies looking for their third title triumph in the tournament.
Essentially a game patronised by the South Asian and West Indian Diaspora, it is all set to stage a comeback in the 2028 Olympic Games, again on US soil, after a gap of nearly 128 years.
Interestingly, the opening game of the T20 World Cup was a revival of the 188-year-old rivalry between the USA and Canada as they last played a three-day game in 1844 in New York where Canada triumphed by 23 runs. And the splendid seven-wicket win in the tournament opener last weekend at Dallas came as a welcome revenge for the US.
The ninth edition of the ICC MenтАЩs T20 World Cup will see the winners of the 20-team tournament earn at least $2.45 million, the highest prize money in the history of the tournament, along with the trophy that they will lift at Kensington Oval in Barbados on June 29, a release of International Cricket Conference (ICC) said.
The runners-up will receive at least $1.28 million, while the losing semi-finalists walk away with $787,500 each from the total, historic prize pot of $11.25 million.
The four teams that fail to make it out of the Super 8s will earn $382,500 each, while the teams placed ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th receive $247,500 each. Participants who finish 13th to 20th place will return $225,000.
And every team receives an additional $31,154 for each match they win barring the semi-finals and final.
The 55-match event is being played over 28 days, across nine venues in the West Indies and USA, making this the biggest ICC T20 World Cup ever.
The format of this yearтАЩs tournament will see 40 first-round matches played before the top eight progress to the Super 8s. Four teams will then qualify for the semi-finals, which will be staged in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, ending with the final in Barbados where the 2024 menтАЩs champions will be crowned.
ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said: тАЬThis event is historic in so many ways so it is fitting that the prize money for players reflects that. Hundreds of millions of fans around the world will be entertained by the players in what weтАЩre hoping to be an Out of This World event.тАЭ
(Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience of 14 years with Reuters News and 30 years with The Tribune Group, covering a wide spectrum of subjects and stories. He has covered Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting TV shows.)
