T20 World Cup 2028 to feature IPL-style Eliminator under new ICC format

The International Cricket Council has approved enhancements to the format of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 at the Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh. The 20-team tournament will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The 20 participating teams will now be divided into five groups of four, replacing the previous format of four groups of five used at the 2026 edition. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super 10 stage, which will feature two groups of five playing a round-robin format, with the winners of each group qualifying directly for the semi-finals.

The remaining two semi-final spots will be decided through new Eliminators round, with the second-placed teams from each Super 10 group facing the third-placed teams from the opposite group. The winners of those Eliminators will complete the semi-final line-up, while the semi-finals and final will continue to follow the existing format. This restructure shifts the competition from 40 first-round matches to 30 group-stage matches, while the second round jumps from 12 to 20 fixtures.

How does the new format advantage emerging teams?

The revised format has been designed to increase the number of teams in the second stage of the competition, promising to expand the representation of emerging teams in the Super 10 stage. Moving from four groups to five groups of four spreads the load and creates more second-round slots. This shift ensures that tournament-wide competition sharpens as more sides reach the later stages, rather than several teams being eliminated after just two group matches under the old structure.

Why do Eliminator matches matter in knockout stages?

The addition of Eliminators, where the 2nd and 3rd-ranked teams from groups in the Super 10 stage compete against each other for spots in the semi-finals, adds significant consequence to the closing matches of the Super 10 stage. The system mirrors the IPL’s successful playoff model. In the IPL, the Eliminator is the only match in the four-game playoff system where neither side has a cushion of any kind; while Q1 losers get to fight another day in Qualifier 2, the Eliminator is merciless with one bad phase, one dropped catch, one missed yorker ending your IPL.

The IPL’s track record with Eliminators tells a striking story. In fifteen editions of the Eliminator, only one team has gone on to win the IPL trophy, Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016. That season, SRH faced Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eliminator in Delhi and won the match, then beat Gujarat Lions in Qualifier 2. Since then, no side have managed to even qualify for the final through the Eliminator, barring the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2021 edition. The brutal knockout nature means emerging teams in the World Cup will face identical pressure: miss one crucial moment and the tournament ends immediately.

The T20 World Cup 2028 will be the first time the ICC uses this format globally. Australia and New Zealand will jointly host the tournament, providing the infrastructure and venues required for a 20-team, three-stage competition. India were the winners of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, their third title, making them the most successful team in the tournament.

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