World T20 2024 | ICC announces new format featuring 12 directly qualified teams among 20 participants

The World T20 2024, set to be co-hosted by the United States of America and the West Indies, will be the first edition of the marquee event to feature a record 20 teams as compared to 16 across the past four editions. In lieu of the same, the ICC has decided to ditch the incumbent format, where eight qualifiers battle it out to make it to the Super 12s alongside eight directly qualified teams, and instead adopt a setup that allows all the participants to have an equal shot of progressing to the next stage.

The 2024 tournament will thus feature the 20 teams split into four groups of five with the top two from each pool progressing to the Super 8 stage which will again see the teams divided into two groups of four. A round-robin set of fixtures will then determine the two sides that qualify from each group for the semi-final and the ensuing final.

Of the 20 teams, 12 have already booked their spots in the upcoming edition. The West Indies and the USA have been guaranteed their place on account of being the hosts, they will be joined by the top eight finishers at the 2022 event, namely England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Netherlands. The last two teams to have qualified so far are Afghanistan and Bangladesh, on account of being the next-best ranked teams at the 14 November 2022 cutoff date set by the ICC. The remaining eight teams will be determined through regional qualifiers.