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Ravichandran Ashwin shows his partial support for the new formats of the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup approved by the International Cricket Council after their annual meeting in Scotland. Ashwin points out that the new format of both of the tournaments will increase the competitiveness of the title races, but will not help the growth of the emerging cricketing nations.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced the new formats for the World Cups of both formats on July 15. Keeping the total number of participating teams the same, the ICC only considers changes in the formats.
Ravichandran Ashwin expresses doubts over the new formats of the T20I and ODI World Cup
According to Ravichandran Ashwin, these new formats will not help the emerging cricketing nations in terms of growth, as the total number of teams in each tournament remains the same.
Through a social media post on ‘X’, the former India cricketer says that the main aim is to expand the game across the world. The changes in fixture for the upcoming ODI World Cup in 2027 and the next T20 World Cup in 2028 are likely to be more competitive in nature than before. But will the format changes help the world cricket governing body to meet the goal of expanding cricket across the planet? Ashwin has doubts.
“The ICC’s changes to the fixture format for the 2027 ODI World Cup and 2028 T20 World Cup make sense from a competitiveness standpoint. But if the final goal is to grow the game, there needs to be a stronger pathway for emerging nations,” he says in his reaction to the fresh formats of the tournaments.
Ravichandran Ashwin asks ICC to prioritize the emerging cricket-playing nations
He emphasizes that teams like Nepal, Netherlands, Scotland and USA deserve more competitive matches against the top-tier teams, not only in the qualification games. In a bigger aspect, the former Team India spinner mentions that collective growth could make the sport a spectacle at the Olympics.
“Teams like the Netherlands, Scotland, Nepal, USA and Ireland need more meaningful matches (FOR EXAMPLE: getting added as the third team into every bilateral series), not just qualification tournaments. Let’s not forget that collective growth will make this sport a spectacle at the Olympics,’ he continues in the same post.
The ICC’s changes to the fixture format for the 2027 ODI World Cup and 2028 T20 World Cup make sense from a competitiveness standpoint.
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) July 16, 2026
But if the final goal is to grow the game, there needs to be a stronger pathway for emerging nations.
Teams like the Netherlands, Scotland,…
New format for the ODI World Cup
In 2027, it will be an ODI World Cup, which will follow the newly given format by the International Cricket Council. The tournament will start with a brief round-robin format between the 12th, 13th, and 14th positions. The best from the mini round-robin phase will join the next stage with eleven other teams.
These twelve teams will be divided into two separate groups. From here, the top 3 from each group plus the best fourth-placed team will qualify for the next round, which will be based on a round-robin format. There will be 21 matches between 7 teams in this round of play. From these seven teams, four will qualify for the semi-finals, and then the final will be between the winners of the semi-finals.
