Photo: Collected
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group as defending champions Australia in the ODI World Cup to be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia next year. A new three-stage format is being introduced at this 14-team global event, with the aim of staging more competitive matches and raising the quality of the experience of both players and spectators.
According to the new format, the 14 qualified teams will have to get through three stages to reach the final; this will make the result of every match in the early part of the tournament important. In the first round, the teams ranked 12, 13 and 14 will play in a round-robin ‘Super Series’, from which only the top team will get the chance to advance to the second round.
The second round will consist of two groups of six teams each. The top three teams from each group and the highest-ranked remaining team across the two groups will advance to the ‘Super Seven’ stage. From there, the best four teams will meet in the semi-finals and the winners in the final.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have jointly confirmed the group line-up of the tournament. The groups were announced at a glittering ceremony, which also marked the start of the one-year countdown to the tournament.
According to the announced line-up, India, Pakistan and six-time champions Australia are in ‘Group A’. Also in this group are Afghanistan, co-hosts Zimbabwe and the ‘Qualifier A’ team coming up from the ‘Super Series’.
‘Group B’ has Bangladesh, England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, co-hosts South Africa and the ‘Qualifier B’ team. The ICC has confirmed that next year’s mega event will run from 2 October to 21 November. However, the full schedule has not yet been released.
