Current champions India will begin their World Cup title defence against Pakistan at Adelaide on February 15 in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

India, which won the 2011 event by defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Mumbai, will play the last of its group fixtures against Zimbabwe at Eden Park, Auckland on March 14.

India's second game will be against South Africa in Melbourne on February 22, followed by their match against the Qualifier 4 team in Perth on February 28. They then face West Indies in Perth on March 6 and their penultimate group match is against Ireland in Hamilton on March 10.

The tournament begins on February 14 with Australia and New Zealand playing their first matches in front of their home crowds. New Zealand will face the 1996 World Cup winner Sri Lanka at Christchurch in the tournament opener while later in the day, four-time champions Australia will take on arch-rivals England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

New Zealand will also host Australia when the two neighbouring countries lock horns in Auckland on 28 March while the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will host the final on 29 March. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Wellington are the venues for the quarter-finals while Auckland and Sydney will host the semi-finals.

A total of 49 matches will be played in the 44-day tournament across 14 venues in the two countries. Australia will stage 26 matches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, whilst the 23 matches in New Zealand will be held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington.

The top four sides from each pool will progress to the quarter-finals, followed by the two semi-finals and the final. All the knock-out matches will have reserve days.

The 14 sides (10 Full Members and four qualifiers), as per their rankings on the Reliance ICC ODI Rankings table on 31 December 2012, have been divided into two pools:

Pool A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Qualifier 2, Qualifier 3.

Pool B: South Africa, India, Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Qualifier 4.