As per the schedule of the major International Cricket Council (ICC) events announced by global cricket governing body, India will co-host the 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2031 50-over World Cup with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively.
Significantly, the ICC on Tesday confirmed the 14 host countries of the men’s white ball events between 2024 and 2031 as per which, 11 full members and three associate members have been selected to host two ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups, four ICC Men’s T20 World Cups and two ICC Men’s Champions Trophy events.
Apart from the two events, India will also be the sole host of the 2029 ICC Champions Trophy.
The USA and Namibia will host an ICC World Cup event for the first time. Whilst Australia, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe have previously staged major events and will do so again over the next decade.
In another big development, Pakistan will also host an ICC event after more than two decades as it has been announced as the host for the 2025 Champions Trophy in 2025.
Notably, Pakistan had last staged an ICC event in 1996 when they co-hosted the 50-over World Cup with India and Sri Lanka and since then, the country has been starving of international cricket particularly because of the 2009 attack on the touring Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore.
As per ICC, the hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden along with Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Skerritt.
The ICC Board accepted the recommendations of the committee who conducted a thorough review of each bid along with ICC management and a similar process to identify the hosts for ICC Women’s and U19s events for the next cycle will be undertaken early next year.
Commenting on the development, ICC Chair Greg Barclay said: “We are delighted to have concluded this competitive bidding process for the first time for ICC events. To have 14 Members hosting 8 events is a reflection of the truly global nature of our sport and I’d like to thank every Member that submitted a bid and offer our congratulations to the successful bidders.”
“It is fantastic to be returning to so many previous hosts, but what is really exciting about this process is the countries who will stage ICC events for the first time including the USA which is a strategic growth market for us. This gives us the opportunity to deepen our connection with fans in traditional cricket nations and also reach new fans around the world,” he added.
On the other hand, Martin Snedden, Chair of the ICC Hosting Sub-Committee said: “We received a range of excellent bids to host the ICC Men’s events in the next cycle. We were committed to ensuring a broad spread of hosts to align with the ICC strategic objective of global growth and have ended up with 14 countries who will support that long term aim.”
Meanwhile, Ricky Skerritt, Cricket West Indies President and ICC Board member said: “The success of this joint bid by CWI and USA Cricket will be a huge boost for our cricket. It offers a vital strategic opportunity to promote and develop cricket, and related commercial activity, in North America and the Caribbean.”
“I take this opportunity to thank all those at ICC, USA Cricket and CWI who helped to make this 2024 venue selection decision possible,” he added.
ICC men’s events post 2023:
2024 T20 World Cup – USA and West Indies
2025 Champions Trophy – Pakistan
2026 T20 World Cup – India and Sri Lanka
2027 ODI World Cup – South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia
2028 T20 World Cup – Australia and New Zealand
2029 Champions Trophy – India
2030 T20 World Cup – England, Ireland and Scotland
2031 ODI World Cup – India and Bangladesh