Now Reading: Afghanistan seal 2027 World Cup spot, West Indies face qualifiers
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Afghanistan seal 2027 World Cup spot, West Indies face qualifiers
Afghanistan have secured automatic qualification for the 2027 Cricket World Cup by beating Ireland in Belfast on Monday. The win ensured they finish among the top eight of the ODI rankings by…
The Story in Brief
Afghanistan have secured automatic qualification for the 2027 Cricket World Cup by beating Ireland in Belfast on Monday. The win ensured they finish among the top eight of the ODI rankings by September 30, excluding co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe. The teams already through are Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Co-hosts South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia also feature in the 14-team tournament.
The West Indies, ranked 10th, cannot make up enough ground even with two ODIs left against India. They will now enter the qualifiers for the third successive 50-over World Cup, having missed the 2023 edition altogether after losing to the Netherlands. The new 2027 format has drawn criticism from associate members Scotland and the Netherlands, who called it a setback.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that the West Indies' slide is purely a Caribbean crisis misses the bigger picture. It is the ICC's lopsided revenue and ranking system that keeps the once-mighty team scrambling while smaller nations like Scotland and the Netherlands get squeezed by the new qualifier format. The real test will come if the associate members' protest forces the ICC to reconsider its qualification pathway before the 2027 tournament.
Source: rediff.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
