Changes to WC formats make sense but associate teams need more: Ashwin

Indian spin great R Ashwin on Thursday said the structural changes made to the ODI and T20 World Cup formats to include more teams make sense but for the game to become truly global, the ICC needs to add the lower-rung sides into every bilateral series.

Following the revamp announced by the ICC on Wednesday, the 2027 ODI World Cup will be a three-stage competition and the 2028 T20 World Cup’s Super 8 phase will be expanded to accommodate 10 teams to achieve “greater context and consequence”.

Ashwin said the world body is planning in the right direction but needs to do more.

“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,” Ashwin posted on ‘X’.

“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 added.

His views align with the demand for more meaningful games by teams like Nepal and Scotland who showed spark in the T20 World Cup earlier this year.

The 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa will feature 14 teams as planned before, up from the 10 in the previous edition, but the governing body has added a Super Series round prior to the ‘Group round’ and a Super 7 stage before the semifinals in its bid to spice up the competition.

The teams that would qualify 12th to 14th for the tournament will play the Super Series round and the top finisher will progress to round two of the competition that will see six teams divided into two groups.

Top three teams from each group plus the next highest-placed team across both groups, will qualify for the Super 7 stage instead of the Super 6 planned earlier.

Four best-placed teams from the Super 7 stage will then progress to the semifinals.

For the T20 showpiece in Australia and New Zealand in 2028, the ICC has decided to try Super 10 instead of Super 8 after the Group stage.

Five groups of four teams will be created and the top two from each will enter the Super 10. Instead of top two teams from each Super 8 group making the semifinals in the last edition, only the one that tops the table in each group enters the last four.

Teams placed second in groups play in the eliminator against the teams placed third in the opposite group, adding another layer to the competition.