The International Cricket Council (ICC) has approved major changes to the formats of both the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with the objective of increasing competitiveness, ensuring greater consequence at every stage of the tournaments, and providing enhanced opportunities for emerging cricket nations.

The revised structures are designed to create stronger competitive narratives from the opening matches through to the finals while maintaining meaningful qualification pathways for Associate Members.

ICC Cricket World Cup:

For the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, the tournament will continue to feature 14 participating teams but will adopt a revised four-stage competition structure. A new Super Series will be introduced before the traditional Group Stage, ensuring that matches from the outset of the tournament carry greater significance.

The competition will then progress through the Group Stage before advancing to a highly competitive Super 7 round, where the seven qualifying teams will compete in a single round-robin league. The top four teams from the Super 7 will qualify for the semi-finals, with the winners progressing to the final. The revised format has been designed to strengthen the importance of every match, ensuring that results in the opening rounds have a direct impact on qualification and progression.

ICC T20 World Cup:

The ICC has also approved changes to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup format by expanding the second stage of the tournament from eight teams to ten teams while preserving opportunities for emerging nations to progress. Twenty teams will continue to compete in the opening stage of the tournament, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the newly expanded Super 10.

To further increase the stakes during the latter stages of the competition, a new Eliminator round will be introduced, in which the second and third-placed teams from the Super 10 groups will compete for the remaining places in the semi-finals.

ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers:

As part of the T20 World Cup pathway, the ICC will also introduce a new 16-team Global Tournament that will serve as the final qualifying competition for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The event is intended to raise the standard of qualification by providing a highly competitive global platform for Associate Member nations while establishing a marquee international competition outside the World Cup itself. The tournament will offer emerging teams a clearer and more competitive route to qualification for the sport’s premier T20 event.

The qualification structure for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 has also been revised. Scotland will enter directly into the Europe Regional Final in recognition of the exceptional circumstances surrounding its participation in the 2026 tournament. The remaining teams that competed at the 2026 T20 World Cup but did not secure automatic qualification will advance directly to the Global Qualifier.

The other eight places in the Global Qualifier will be determined through regional qualification, with two teams each qualifying from Africa, Asia and Europe, and one team each from the Americas and East Asia-Pacific. At the Global Qualifier, the highest-placed team from each region, together with the next three highest-placed teams overall, will qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028, subject to the ICC’s minimum performance criteria.

India will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing T20I series when they take on England in the first One Day International (ODI) at Edgbaston on Tuesday, July 14. 

ENG vs IND: Toss update

England captain Harry Brook called the toss correctly and opted to bat first on a bright and sunny day in Birmingham. The right-handed batter stated that the surface is excellent to bat on and hopes it will offer spin to the likes of Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson in the second innings. 

On the other hand, India captain Shubman Gill wanted to bowl first, with both captain getting their choice. 

ENG vs IND: Virat Kohli returns to India’s ODI side

After missing the ODI series against Afghanistan due to injury, Virat Kohli returns to India’s 50-over side for the first time since January 2026. The right-handed batter will slot into the number three slot in the side, behind openers Gill and Rohit Sharma. 

Jasprit Bumrah also makes a comeback to the ODI setup. The right-arm pace bowler will play his first one-day game since the 2023 World Cup in Ahmedabad, where the Men in Blue lost to Australia. 

ENG vs IND: What did the captains say?

Harry Brook, England captain

“We’re gonna have a bat today. Looks like a good surface, don’t quite know what’s gonna happen, but we fancy our chances with the bat first. Hopefully, we can get a little bit of spin in the second innings. [On the start of the build-up to the 2027 World Cup] Same as what we did in the T20s, really. We got to try and assess conditions as quickly as possible and communicate well and see where we land at the end of the day. [On having a similar ODI and T20I squad] Definitely, definitely, yeah. Having similar amount of players in the T20 side to the one-day side, brings a lot of faith and trust in myself as captain and a lot of backing towards the players as well. So the XI that we’ve got today, we’re very happy to go out there and give India a good crack. [On lacking consistency in the ODIs] We’ve struggled with it a little bit over the last couple of years, but hopefully on the back of that we can turn a page really and start consistently performing as much as we can. We’ve got the side to do that for sure. [On the team combination] We’ve gone with two spinners and three seamers.”

Shubman Gill, India captain:

“[On losing the toss and bowling first] Actually, we’re looking to bowl first. [On India’s preparation after the T20Is] Well, I think most of the boys have been playing the T20s and the rest of the boys we got a bit of rest, I had a bit of training. Got here a couple of days before, so we were practicing. So the environment, the vibe has been really good. [On the importance of the series with the 2027 World Cup in mind] Important series for us, the conditions that we’re going to get here would be a little bit more similar to South Africa as compared to where most of the time we play in India. So in that context, the combination, what kind of different combination we can try and some of the players, who haven’t had that much experience in this format especially, would get some game time. So it will be really good for us. [On the return of the senior players] Yeah, definitely most of the seniors are back. We have got Virat Bhai, Rohit Bhai, KL and Boom back to the squad. So the experience is going to be massive for us. [On leading India again in England] Yeah, very excited for the series, have some really good memories in this venue particularly. So hopefully we’re going to add into that. [On the playing XI] So apart from the usual, we have got four seamers, with Dube and then we’ve got two spinners, Axar and Washi.”

ENG vs IND: Playing XIs

England:

India:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (C), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna

Gurnoor Brar continued his red-hot form in international cricket since his ODI debut last month against Afghanistan. The right-arm seamer was picked in India’s playing XI for the first ODI against England, which is being played at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Tuesday, July 14.

Playing his first overseas match for the Men in Blue, Brar did look a bit nervous in his first over, as Ben Duckett hit him for one four and two sixes. However, the last six came through a stroke of luck for the diminutive England opener, as he top-edged a pull over the long-leg boundary.

In his second over, Brar conceded two boundaries, with Duckett doing damage once again. Indian captain Shubman Gill gave one over to Washington Sundar, allowing Brar to change ends. This move worked wonders for the 26-year-old seamer, as he dismissed both Jacob Bethell and Duckett in his third over.

Bethell was out to a back-of-a-length delivery, as his pull shot was nailed to Washington Sundar, who had to run in from the deep and slide forward to take a fine catch. The southpaw was dismissed for 14 off 31 balls as England’s 61-run partnership came to an end.

Duckett departed two balls later. He tried to play a cut without any intention of keeping it along the ground. The ball almost sailed for a six over deep third man. However, Jasprit Bumrah stopped it in its track. The veteran seamer took the catch above his head with both hands but realised that he could step on the boundary ropes. He tossed the ball in the air, settled himself, and completed the catch, giving Brar his second wicket.

Take a look at the wickets below: