The International Cricket Council organized a men’s cricket World Cup every four years. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments across all sports. The event follows a 50-over format which is also called One Day International cricket.The men’s cricket World Cup was first held in 1975. In the first three editions, the tournament followed a 60-over format. It was in 1987 when the switch to 50-over matches took place.
There is no fixed number of participating teams in the world cup. The number of participants depend on the performance of countries in various regional qualifying events held in the three years prior to the subsequent edition of the world cup.
Due to the inconsistency in the number of participating nations, the tournament has not followed a fixed structure in its main event. The host nation automatically qualifies for the tournament.
When the number of participating countries exceeds ten, the teams are divided into two or four groups. Each group features a round-robin format. The table toppers of the group qualify for the knockout rounds.
If the total number of participating teams are less than ten, then a single group is featured. Each team plays the other in the round-robin format. At the end of this league stage, the best performing sides face each other in the knockout rounds.
The most successful team at the men’s cricket World Cup is Australia who have won six titles, including their latest title win in 2023. The highest run-scorer at the tournament has been Sachin Tendulkar. Among the bowlers, Glenn McGrath is the leading wicket-taker of the 50-over World Cup.
