International Cricket Council unveils new formats for ODI and T20 World Cups

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced that the upcoming ODI World Cup 2027 will be a three-stage event leading into the final and the T20 World Cup 2028 will see the Super 8 stage expanding to 10 teams.

The ICC has unveiled the revamped the structure for the global tournaments with an aim to achieve greater context and consequence. ICC adds Super 7 stage at ODI World Cup, Super 10 instead of Super 8 at T20 World Cup.

The ODI World Cup 2027 will see top 14 teams compete against each other for the title. In the previous edition of the marquee event, 10 teams participated for the elusive showpiece. The governing body has added a Super Series round prior to the 'Group round' and a Super 7 stage before the semifinals in its bid to spice up the competition.

The teams that would qualify for the 12th to 14th of the tournament will play the Super Series round and the top finisher will progress to the round two of the mega event, which will see six teams getting divided into two groups.

Top three teams from each group plus the next highest placed team across both groups will qualify for the Super 7 stage instead of the Super 6 planned earlier.

Four best-placed teams from the Super 7 stage will then progress to the semifinals.

The tournament will feature 10 automatic qualifiers. Among the three co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe will be automatic qualifiers for being full members.

The third co-host, Namibia, has not received an automatic qualification as it is an associate member. The eight highest teams on the ODI rankings will complete the top 10 line-up.

The remaining four teams will be decided by a global qualifier.

Super 10 instead of Super 8 at T20 World Cup

For the T20 showpiece in Australia and New Zealand in 2028, the ICC has decided to try Super 10 instead of the Super 8 after the Group stage.

Five groups of four teams will be created, and the top two from each enter the Super 10.

Instead of the top two teams from each Super 8 group making the semifinals in the last edition, only the one that tops the table in each group enters the last four. Teams placed second in groups play in the eliminator against the teams placed third in the opposite group, adding another layer to the competition.

Scotland will enter directly into the Europe Regional Final, recognising the exceptional circumstances surrounding its participation in the 2026 tournament, having replaced Bangladesh. The remaining teams that competed at the T20 World Cup 2026 but did not secure automatic qualification will advance directly to the Global Qualifier.

(With PTI Inputs)