Ravichandran Ashwin showed his partial support for the new formats of the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup approved by the International Cricket Council after its annual meeting in Scotland. Ashwin says that the new format of both the tournaments will increase the competitiveness of the title race, but will not help in the development of emerging cricket countries.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced new formats for the World Cup in both formats on July 15. Keeping the total number of participating teams the same, the ICC only considers changes in formats.
Ravichandran Ashwin expressed doubts over new formats of T20I and ODI World Cup
According to Ravichandran Ashwin, these new formats will not help the emerging cricket 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 the main aim is to expand the game across the world. The nature of the changes is likely to be more competitive than before for the upcoming ODI World Cup in 2027 and the next T20 World Cup in 2028. But will the change in format help the world cricket governing body achieve its goal of expanding cricket across the world? Ashwin has doubts
Commenting on the new tournament formats, he says, “The ICC changes to the fixture format for the 2027 ODI World Cup and 2028 T20 World Cup make sense from a competitiveness perspective. But if the ultimate goal is to grow the game, a stronger pathway is needed for emerging nations.”
Ravichandran Ashwin asked ICC to give priority to emerging cricket playing countries
He emphasizes that teams like Nepal, Netherlands, Scotland and USA deserve more competitive matches against top-tier teams and not just in qualification games. In a bigger aspect, the former Team India spinner mentioned that collective development can make the sport shine in the Olympics.
“Teams like Netherlands, Scotland, Nepal, USA and Ireland need more meaningful matches (for example: being included as the third team in every bilateral series), not just qualification tournaments. Let’s not forget that collective development is what will make this game great at the Olympics,” he adds in the same post.
The ICC changes to the fixture format for the 2027 ODI World Cup and 2028 T20 World Cup make sense from a competitive perspective.
But if the ultimate goal is to grow the game, a stronger pathway is needed for emerging countries.
Teams like Netherlands, Scotland…
– Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) July 16, 2026
New format of ODI World Cup
In 2027, it will be the ODI World Cup, which will follow the new format given by the International Cricket Council. The tournament will begin with an abbreviated round-robin format between the 12th, 13th and 14thth Post. The best eleven from the mini round-robin stage will join the next stage along with other teams.
These twelve teams will be divided into two different groups. From here, the top 3 and best 4th placed teams from each group 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 games. Out of these seven teams, four teams will qualify for the semi-finals and then the final will be played between the winners of the semi-finals.