Reports: ICC wants to include 20 teams in T20 World Cup 2024

With the ICC T20 World Cup slated to take place later this year in India, fans have already started the countdown. As per plans, the seventh edition of the marquee tournament is scheduled to be played in October and November. T20 cricket has been dominating the cricket calendar in the past few years, and hence, several teams have their own set of T20 specialists. Therefore, fans are expecting to witness some great action between the bat and the ball.

However, the fate of the tournament is under dark clouds, with the third wave of COVID-19 virus expected to hit India later this year. In that case, the competition is likely to be shifted abroad. While the future of this year’s competition is in jeopardy, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is looking at an even bigger picture. The apex cricket body reportedly plans to add more teams in future ICC events to develop cricket globally.

20 teams to participate in T20 World Cup 2024?

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, ICC is planning to raise the number of teams at the T20 World Cup 2024. The apex body understands the need to expand the gentleman’s game globally, and T20 is the best format in such a scenario. The shortest international format is easy to adapt compared to Test and ODIs as the competition between the sides will be a lot less one-sided. Hence, as many as 20 teams can participate in the T20 World Cup 2024.

“The ICC has long seen the T20 format as a vehicle for the game’s expansion and there has been previous talk of such an expansion. The ICC have already confirmed their plans to increase the number of teams in their women’s competitions,” says the report.

A total of 16 teams are slated to participate in the T20 World Cup 2021, and ICC would want associate nations like Namibia, Scotland and Ireland to do well. In recent years, ICC has cut the number of teams in the 50-over World Cup (from 16 in 2007 to 14 in 2011 and 2015 and 10 in 2019) for a better quality of competition. However, they are now opting for a different approach, and it would be interesting to see how their plan works out.