The International Cricket Council (ICC) are considering kicking off the ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, next year, to commemorate the life of the great leader. Mahatma Gandhi, also widely known as the Father of the Nation in India, has a deep-rooted connection with the co-hosts of the tournament. He spent a dedicated portion of his life fighting against prejudice in the country.
The ICC had earlier planned for the tournament to begin on October 8, with the first week of the month dedicated to hosting the warm-up matches. However, the governing body are willing to prepone the schedule to begin the World Cup on Gandhi Jayanti, as it sends a powerful message during some testing times.
“The International Cricket Council (ICC) is working towards starting the tournament on that day to commemorate the life of a leader who championed peace and non-violence,” a report by Cricbuzz mentions.
The report further mentions that although the commencement date of the tournament and the warm-up matches are likely to be pushed back from the originally planned schedule, the date for the final (November 21), remains fixed.
ICC recently introduced a new format for ODI World Cup 2027
The prestigious tournament, expanded to 14 nations after the previous two editions in 2019 and 2023 were limited to only 10 nations, witnesses yet another format change. So far, 10 nations, including the co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, have secured qualification for the ODI World Cup 2027.
The ICC will stage qualifiers in the February-March window in 2027 to determine the teams for the remaining four spots. Two-time winners West Indies recently missed out on automatic qualifications, and will feature in the qualifiers next year along with the likes of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The main tournament will witness the lowest-ranked three sides partake in a preliminary playoff called the ‘Super Series’, of which one will qualify to join the other 11 teams. The remaining 12 teams will then be divided into two groups of six sides each. Three teams from each group will qualify for the Super Seven stage, with the best-placed team outside of this group also finding a place. Four teams will then progress into the knockouts after another round-robin stage.
Edited by Gokul Nair