Aditya ChaudhuriThe International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced a brand new format for the next edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in 2024 and co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA.
The 2024 edition will see a total of 20 teams take part. The teams will be divided in four groups of five. Top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage, where the teams will be divided in the two groups of four each. Top two teams from each Super Eight group, then, will qualify for the Semi-finals, following which the Final will be held.
The new format moves away from the Super 12 phase, which was present in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Men’s T20 World Cup.
The 20 teams that will take part in the World Cup aren’t decided yet, though. The West Indies and the USA have already qualified as the hosts of the tournament, and defending champions England, along with Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and South Africa, have also qualified after their top-eight finish in the 2022 edition. Afghanistan and Bangladesh have also made the cut courtesy of their ICC T20I rankings.
The other eight teams for the tournament will be decided through Regional Qualifiers, which is another new addition, moving away from the Global Qualifiers. The Regional Qualifiers will give Asia, Africa and Europe two spots each for qualification, while the Americas and the East-Asia Pacific region will have one spot each.
