Cricket World Cup revamp could see extra India Pakistan clash

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday a revamped format for the men’s 2027 one-day international World Cup that could lead to an additional fixture between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

While next year’s edition in southern Africa remains a 14-team competition, the three lowest-ranked qualifiers will now take part in a preliminary round with just one of them progressing to a 12-strong main group stage.

That will now feature just two pools of six, with a new ‘super seven’ stage replacing the previous ‘super six’ round-robin.

The restructure comes after concerns were expressed about the prospect of too many dead rubbers, which in turn would lead to sparse crowds at venues, and the number of foregone conclusions at the recent T20 World Cup.