Australia’s first opponent in a quest to win a maiden Twenty20 World Cup will be Pakistan after the ICC announced the schedule for the 2014 tournament on Sunday.

Australia will also face pool matches against defending champions the West Indies, India and a qualifier – potentially hosts Bangladesh – after being drawn in Group 2.

The tournament, won by the Windies in Sri Lanka last year, starts with a qualification match in the capital Dhaka on March 16 and concludes with the final in the same city on April 6.

The women’s T20 World Cup will run concurrently with the men’s event, with both finals to be held on the same day at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.

Australia’s women – who have been drawn in Group A with New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ireland – will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of titles having won the previous two finals in Barbados in 2010 and Colombo last year.

As many as 60 tournament matches (35 men’s and 25 women’s) will be played at venues in Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet over the 22-day event.

The format for the men’s event in next year’s tournament has been changed following an increase in teams from 12 to 16.

As the teams’ seeding are based on the ICC T20 rankings as of October last year, the top eight sides plus the best-two teams from the qualifiers played between March 16-21 will make up the Super 10 stage.

The prize money for the men’s event will be $US3 million ($A3.13 million), with the winner receiving $US1.1 million ($A1.15 million).