Format of 2027 ODI World Cup changed, ICC took a big decision, new thrill of Super Series and Super 7

New Delhi. ICC has taken a historic step to make global tournaments more exciting, competitive and interesting for spectators. In the recent annual meeting of ICC held in Edinburgh, major changes have been approved in the format of two biggest tournaments of cricket, ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup. The main objective of these new changes is to increase the ‘importance and seriousness of the matches’ in the initial stages of the tournament itself, so that no match remains dull. Let us understand how the formats of both the World Cups are going to change in the coming times.

In the upcoming ODI World Cup, the number of teams will remain the same at 14, but the way of playing has been completely changed. The ICC has introduced a completely new phase to ensure tough competition between the teams at the initial stage itself. The tournament will start with ‘Super Series’. In this, the three lowest ranking teams will compete among themselves for a place in the main group stage. Out of these three teams, only one team will be able to qualify for the main round, while the other two teams will be out of the tournament. A total of 12 teams, including one team qualifying from the Super Series and the existing 11 teams, will advance to the second round. These 12 teams will be divided into two groups of 6-6.

super 7 stage
The top-3 teams from both the groups will directly advance to the next round. Apart from this, among the fourth-placed teams in both the groups, the team whose performance will be better (best fourth-placed team) will also get a chance to advance. In this way a total of 7 teams will enter the ‘Super 7’ stage.

road to semi finals
All the teams will compete among themselves in the Super 7 stage and the top 4 teams in the points table will qualify for the semi-finals. After this there will be knockout matches.

What did ICC say
The ICC said, ‘The increasing importance of matches and increased competitive intensity will significantly improve the fan experience. At the same time, this new arrangement will also continue to give emerging teams the opportunity to compete on cricket’s biggest stage.

Suspense will increase with the entry of ‘eliminators’
Along with ODI, the format of T20 World Cup has also been redesigned. In this shorter format, ICC has introduced ‘Eliminators’ just before the knockout stage, due to which the excitement of the tournament will reach its peak. A total of 20 teams will participate in the T20 World Cup. They will be divided into five different groups of 4 teams each. The top-2 teams from each group will advance to the next round, meaning a total of 10 teams will advance to the next round. These 10 teams moving forward will be divided into two groups of 5 each (Group A and Group B). There will be fierce competitions between the teams in this Super 10 phase.

Mathematics of semi-finals and eliminators
The two teams standing at the top (number 1) in both the groups at the end of the Super 10 stage will directly secure their place in the semi-finals. A new twist has been added for the remaining two semi-final places. The four teams finishing second and third in both the groups will have to play ‘Eliminators’.

Eliminator 1: The second placed team of Group A will face the third placed team of Group B.

Eliminator 2: The second placed team of Group B will face the third placed team of Group A.

The two teams that win these two eliminator matches will face the teams that have directly qualified in the semi-finals.