T20 World Cup 2024 under scrutiny as ICC assembles 3-member committee to review tournament conduct

The recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024 in June was hosted in the USA and West Indies. The final was played on June 29 with India being crowned the new T20 World Cup champions.

Meanwhile, the ICC in its latest development has formed a three-member committee to review the conduct of the T20 World Cup in America. Though the overall success of the tournament was a good one, the USA leg did not turn out as expected.

The drop-in pitches on which the matches were played created a lot of controversy as teams could not breach the 150-run mark. Though the low-scoring matches turned out to be interesting, the fans enjoyed the second phase of the tournament more than the first phase.

Also Read: Updated ICC World Test Championship Points Table After ENG vs WI 2nd Test 2024

The committee features former New Zealand batter Roger Twose and two other directors Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khwaja, who is the deputy chair of the ICC. It is understood that ICC incurred losses of over USD 20 million for conducting matches in New York, Florida, and Dallas.

"The ICC Board confirmed that there will be a review into the delivery of the ICC T20 World Cup. This will be overseen by three directors, Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khwaja who will report back to the Board later in the year," an ICC release stated.

It is understood that the role of some top ICC executives will also be thoroughly looked into by the committee. Already, head of events Chris Tetley has tendered his resignation although the official reason given was that an ICC flagship event every year (men and women) was taking its toll.

The ICC has also handed a formal warning to USA Cricket and Cricket Chile, giving them a 12-month period to address their current non-compliance with the organization's membership criteria. The ICC said that both boards lack purpose concerning detailed governance and administrative structure and systems.

"The ICC Americas office will work with Cricket Chile to support them in remedying their non-compliance. The Board agreed that a Normalisation Committee comprising of Board and Management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and the ICC Board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the Member for continued non-compliance" the statement further read.

ICC Takes Crucial Decisions on T20 World Cup 2026 and Women's T20 World Cup 2030

ICC's Chief Executive Committee further said that it allocated eight regional qualifying spots for the Men's T20 World Cup 2026. It also announced that the number of participating teams in the Women's T20 World Cup 2030 will be increased to 16 teams.

The cut-off date for qualification for the 2026 women's T20 World Cup qualifier was confirmed as October 31, 2024. Furthermore, Paul Riefell the ICC Elite Panel Umpire has been appointed to the ICC Men's Cricket Committee.

The ICC has another challenge in their hands which is hosting the Champions Trophy 2025 successfully in Pakistan. The BCCI is unlikely to send their team across the border on their government's order. Thus the ICC might have to shift the tournament either to UAE or Sri Lanka.

Also Read: Watch: Gautam Gambhir leads Team India's arrival in Sri Lanka for white-ball tour