The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently announced to expand the men's T20 World Cup to 20 teams which will be implemented from World Cup 2024-2030. The council has also decided that men's ODI Cricket World Cup will have 14 teams for the 2027 and 2031 editions.

Some cricket experts who loved this new idea of including more teams in the showpiece event, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra felt that ICC might have decided this due to pressure of domestic T20 leagues like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“The 20-over World Cup is going to have twenty teams now. ICC was probably feeling the pressure of domestic T20 leagues and because of that, the T20 World Cup is going to have 55 matches. It is as big as an IPL,” Chopra said.

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“So, they are trying to give a fantastic T20 league every two years. But it is not a league, but a tournament which will be played by countries and not the franchises. The 20 teams have been divided into four groups of five each,” he added.

The former cricketer turned commentator then explained the format of these upcoming World Cup as he said, “Each team will play against the other teams in the group. So, you have 40 matches here itself. The eight qualifying teams are again divided into two groups and then the semi-finals and the final.”

The 43-year-old then explained how the broadcasters who will be bidding for the rights will eb getting the rights of four World Cups.

“So, overall you will have 55 matches. This is going to be a lot - 2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030. Whoever bids for the broadcast rights, will get four T20 World Cups,” the Delhi-based cricketer said.

(With Hindustan Times Inputs)