The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved major changes in the formats of the ODI World Cup 2027 and the T20 World Cup 2028 to make cricket more attractive.
According to a statement issued after the ICC’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh, the two major global tournaments will be played under a new format where teams will face additional challenges to reach the knockout stages.
New format of ODI World Cup 2027
The 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, will feature 14 teams, but a new three-stage system has now been introduced to reach the final.
Out of the 14 teams that made it through the first round, the bottom three teams will play a round-robin super series and the winner will advance to the next round.
In the second round, the remaining 12 teams will be divided into two groups of six, each in a round-robin format. Three of the two groups, the top three teams and the next best team will advance to the Super 7 stage.
In the third stage or Super 7, seven teams will play each other and then the first four teams will advance to the semi-finals. The semi-final and final matches will be played according to the previous format.
New format also in T20 World Cup 2028
The T20 World Cup 2028, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will feature only 20 teams, but the format has been changed to make the second phase of the tournament more interesting.
In the group stage, 20 teams will be divided into five groups of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 10 stage.
The Super 10 stage will consist of two groups of five, five teams each. The first team from each group will advance directly to the semi-finals.
The two remaining semi-finalist teams will decide in a new elimination round where the second team from each group will play the third team from the opposing group. The teams that win these matches will advance to the semi-finals.
According to the ICC, the new formats aim to make global events more exciting, give more opportunities to emerging teams and keep the competition exciting until the final stage.
