The ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will be joint-hosted by the West Indies and the United States of America (USA) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to award the hosts West Indies and the USA a direct qualification into the tournament.
ICC said after its meeting in Dubai, that Twelve teams will qualify automatically for the 2024 men's T20 World Cup. The tournament will comprise 20 teams for the first time and the qualification process is that the top-eight teams from the 2022 edition (to be hosted in Australia this October-November) along with the two hosts - West Indies and the USA - will get automatic berths for the league phase.
The remaining two slots, via the automatic-qualification route, will be taken by the next-highest-ranked teams on the ICC T20 rankings as of November 14 this year.
"If West Indies finish in the top eight in Australia later this year, three teams will progress based on rankings, and if outside the top eight two teams will qualify from the rankings table," the ICC said in a release on Sunday (April 10).
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The US team (men's) is now guaranteed to appear in what would be their first-ever World Cup appearance, although both their men's and women's sides have a chance to qualify for the events themselves.
USA head coach J Arun Kumar said: "We are delighted to receive confirmation from the ICC that we will gain automatic qualification for the historic 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be co-hosted here in USA with the West Indies. For the USA to play in the expanded 20 teams T20 World Cup on home soil is going to be ground-breaking and historic for cricket as the sport continues to expand around the world and we're really looking to being a part of it in 2024."
We are hopeful that it will in fact be a second T20 World Cup appearance though for our squad, as we are very focused on the opportunity in front of us this year as we travel to Zimbabwe in July as one of the eight teams looking for the final two spots in the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.
We have been playing good cricket in recent times, with a first-ever victory over a Test Nation vs Ireland in December in Florida. I'm also really pleased with the ever-growing depth in our player pool as we have brought in a number of young, impressive home-grown talents that are going to help make up the future of the side for many years to come,” he further said.
A similar qualification process will be adopted for the women's T20 World Cup in 2024, which will comprise ten teams. Eight teams will take the automatic route: the top-three teams from each of the two groups in the 2023 edition, scheduled in South Africa.
If the hosts are among this group of top-six teams, the next two highest-ranked teams on the table will qualify automatically. The remaining two teams will emerge from a global qualifier.
(Cricbuzz inputs)
