ICC has reportedly finalised how the participants will be decided.
India and Pakistan are unlikely to face-off at the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, depriving the growing audience in the United States of the most intense rivalry in the sport.
According to a TOI report, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has finalised how the participants will be decided, with only six to be chosen each for men’s and women’s categories.
Initially, the apex body contemplated selecting these teams from the top of its rankings. However, now it has zeroed in on a different system -- five best teams from each continent and one via a qualifying round. This means only one team from Asia will directly qualify, based on the rankings.
As of today, India will qualify from Asia, Australia from Oceania, England from Europe, and South Africa from Africa. Incidentally, all four teams feature in the top five of the rankings.
The hosts usually get direct qualification, but it’s unconfirmed whether the USA or the West Indies will take that spot for the Americas. The details of the qualifying round are yet to be released, which keeps the door open for Pakistan (if they don’t qualify from Asia ahead of India).
“There have been discussions around the participation of teams, and it has been decided that the six teams will come through the top-ranked team from each region/continent, while the sixth comes from the global qualifier. The details will be shared by the ICC in due course, but the roadmap has more or less been frozen," TOI quoted a veteran administrator who was part of the ICC meeting in Dubai as saying.
Earlier, the ICC had confirmed the six-team system in a media release. “The Board reviewed the ICC’s ongoing engagement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28), as cricket deepens its footprint in the global multisport landscape. At LA28, both the men’s and women’s T20 events will feature six teams each, comprising 28 matches in total," read the press release.