T20 World Cup begins today

In today's opening game of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Geelong, Namibia will be hoping to continue their ascent in the cricketing world. The game begins at 10:00 a.m. Bangladesh time.

Round 1 will begin with a bang as the first of 45 games will pit Group A favorites Sri Lanka against Namibia, a team with strong ambitions of making it to the Super 12 stage.

This won't be the first time that the two sides are going to face off against each other at a major tournament. Namibia and Sri Lanka were placed in the same group in the last T20 World Cup where they also played their opening match of the campaign against each other. The contest didn't give Gerhard Erasmus and his men happy memories as Sri Lanka completely outclassed them -- Namibia were bowled out for 96 and the Lankans chased the target down with seven wickets and more than six overs to spare.

But Namibia put on a spirited show in their remaining matches as they won against Ireland and Netherlands to qualify for the Super 12 and also went on to beat Scotland in that phase. The team has grown in confidence and experience since then and it was visible when they put on a clinical show to beat Ireland in the warm-up match ahead of the mega event earlier this week.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are coming into this tournament with a big reputation to protect as they emerged as the Champions of Asia recently by beating teams like India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh on their way to the Asia Cup title.

That win, which featured five consecutive victories, halted a worrying run of form since the last T20 World Cup campaign. Sri Lanka had lost nine out of their first 10 T20Is this year before turning things around completely with that Asia Cup triumph.

The Lankans have also carried their newly-found form to Australia, as they delivered an excellent performance in the warm-up match against Zimbabwe. Dasun Shanaka's side won the match by 33 runs as the likes of Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga fired with the bat. They will now look to carry this momentum forward to their match against Namibia.

Meanwhile, the UAE will be looking to better their record against Netherlands in ICC events when they lock horns in the second match of the day, which will kick off at Kardinia Park in Geelong at 2:00pm Bangladesh time.

The UAE will be hoping to deliver a memorable performance as they gear up for only their second appearance in the history of the T20 World Cup. 2014 was the last time they qualified for the mega event and they will be looking to make up for their absence in the last two editions with some eye-catching performances in Australia.

The two sides have met eight times in T20 internationals previously, with each team winning an equal number of matches. The Dutch, however, have a better record when it comes to ICC tournaments. Three of their four wins over the UAE have come in either Qualifiers or the World Cup.

The Dutch had a disappointing outing in the last edition. They bowed out from the tournament in the group stage itself as they lost all of their three matches. Edwards will be expecting a much better performance from his side this time but the batting needs to step up.