The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved major changes in the formats of mega events to make the ODI and T20 World Cup events more attractive.
The ICC has decided to introduce a new three-stage format in the 14-team men’s ODI World Cup, with the mega event starting with a “Super Series” stage between the 12th, 13th and 14th teams.
The winner of the Super series will advance to the second stage where twelve teams will compete in two groups of 6 and 6 and a total of 7 teams from the second stage will have the “Super 7” stage, that is, the top three teams from both groups will play the three best teams in the Super 7.
In the Super 7 stage, all 7 teams will play together and the top 4 teams will advance to the semi-finals. The ICC says the new format of the World Cup aims to make every match more important and exciting from the first match.
On the other hand, in the T20 World Cup, which consists of 20 teams, instead of Super 8, the Super 10 stage was decided.
According to ICC, two groups will be formed in the Super 10 stage, the first team of both groups will play directly in the semi-finals, the eliminator matches will be played for the first time between the second and third teams and the winners of the eliminator matches will advance to the semi-finals.
It should be noted that the ICC has also approved the organization of a 16-team World T20 tournament for partner countries.
The proposed 16-team global tournament will be played before the T20 World Cup, which is expected to conclude in November.
The ICC Board also approved the new qualification system for the 2028 T20 World Cup, teams that do not qualify directly for the 2026 T20 World Cup will participate in the Global Challenge.
Teams from Africa, Asia, Europe, America and the East Asia Pacific region will qualify for the 2028 T20 World Cup.
