DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved sweeping changes to the formats of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup, introducing new competition structures aimed at increasing competitiveness and maintaining excitement throughout both tournaments.
In accordance with the newly adopted format, the 14-team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will be held in three stages. The event will start with the group stage, followed by the Super 7 stage that will feature the top seven teams participating in the tournament. After completing the Super 7 stage, the top four teams will advance to the semi-finals stage.
According to the ICC, the new format will help organize more matches of great significance and provide all teams with chances to secure their advancement into the knockout stage.
The ICC has also made some major changes to the format of the 20-team ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, allowing 10 teams to qualify from the group stage to the new Super 10 stage.
The top two teams of each group will qualify for the Super 10 under the new system. Second and third-placed teams in the Super 10 table will play eliminator matches in order to make their way to semi-final spots with other top teams.
As per the ICC, the new format is supposed to make the competition to reach the semi-finals more exciting until the end of the tournament.
As part of its effort to boost the sport around the world, the ICC has suggested that a 16-team international tournament be held for Associate Members prior to the T20 World Cup.
The qualification process of the 2028 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has also been approved by the ICC. The teams will have to first play in regional qualifying tournaments and then move to global qualifying tournaments to get qualified for the World Cup. Scotland has been given special consideration in the qualification process of 2028.
