New Delhi: The roadmap for the next eight years of world cricket has been approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The global cricket calendar till 2035 has been approved in the important meeting of the ICC Board held in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday. According to this new program, Indian cricket fans will once again get to enjoy the thrill of the world class tournament in their own backyard, because India has been given the hosting rights of 2029 Champions Trophy and 2031 ODI World Cup.
According to the schedule announced by ICC, the 2029 Men's Champions Trophy will be played entirely in India from October 9 to 28. Subsequently, the Ramana Men's ODI World Cup will be jointly hosted by India and Bangladesh from 9 October to 23 November in 2031. A total of four Men's T20 World Cups, two ODI World Cups, three World Test Championship (WTC) finals and two Champions Trophies have been included in this entire calendar from 2028 to 2035.
Talking about other major tournaments, the World Test Championship finals of 2029 and 2031 will be played in England from June 8 to 12 and June 12 to 16 respectively. Whereas the 2030 Men's T20 World Cup will be held jointly between England, Ireland and Scotland from July 4 to August 4. Apart from this, the dates of T20 World Cup of 2032 (14 October to 14 November) and 2034 (6 July to 6 August), Champions Trophy of 2033 (2 to 23 October), WTC final of 2033 and 2035 and ODI World Cup of 2035 (2 October to 18 November) have been announced, although the names of the host countries of this tournament are yet to be announced. left to do.
Regarding the historic comeback of cricket in Los Angeles Olympics 2028 (LA28), ICC has also decided the dates and hosts of the final qualifying tournament. The Men's Olympic Qualifiers will be held in America from February 5 to 13, 2028, while the Women's Olympic Qualifiers will be played in Bangladesh from February 26 to March 5, 2028. Eight teams each will participate in both the tournaments and the team that wins the final will get the final ticket to the Olympics.
The ICC Board has also made important changes in the qualification rules for the next World Cup. For the 2027 ODI World Cup, qualifiers will be played between 10 teams in February-March 2027, out of which the top four teams will advance. The winning team will advance directly to the group stage, while the final placing will be decided by a 'Super Series' between the remaining three teams. Similarly, for the 2028 Men's T20 World Cup, eight teams out of the 16 Global Qualifiers will qualify directly, with special arrangements made to ensure that the top teams from each region get representation.
On the other hand, a total of 10 teams, including host Pakistan, India, Australia, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Ireland, have been directly qualified for the 2028 Women's T20 World Cup, while global qualifiers will be played between 10 teams for the remaining two places. Regarding these decisions, ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta had said that the clarity of the long-term calendar will give players and cricket boards the opportunity to plan better, which will strengthen the structure of global cricket.