The current year is 2025. A total of nine world championship events have been held to decide the champion of cricket’s fastest format. The T20 World Cup has been held every two years. The format of this event has changed based on the number of participants. This explainer shall detail how the latest edition of the T20 World Cup panned out.
A total of 20 teams made it to the main event of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The selection of these teams was decided based on host nations, performance in the previous World Cup, rankings in the International Cricket Council, and performance in the regional qualifying events. Firstly, two of these teams gained direct entry for being the hosts. The Top 8 teams from the previous World Cup also secured qualification. The two next best ranked teams in the International Cricket Council rankings also qualify.
The eight remaining teams were chosen based on regional tournaments that were played across different continents. When combined, a total of 81 teams had participated in the regional competition to have a go at the World Cup qualification. Of these 81 teams, 32 teams were from Europe, nine from the East Asia-Pacific region, six from the Americas, 15 from Asia, and 19 from Africa.
The 20 teams are divided into four groups of five teams. Then, the top two sides from each group is pre-alloted a seed. Each team plays the other team of its group once in a round-robin format. A win is worth two points, a drawn or a match with no result fetches one point to each team, and no teams are awarded for a loss. If two teams are tied at the same number of points, the net run-rate decides the better side. The top two teams from each group progresses to the Super 8 stage.
The Super 8 teams are divided into two groups of four each. Yet again, a single round-robin format is employed with the same point system as seen in the group stages. Eventually, the top two teams from each group progresses to the knock-out stages (semis and final).
The qualification format of the T20 World Cup is subject to minor changes depending on the number of participating teams. However, when it comes to securing a spot for the main event, the format in the league stages preceding the knockout round can change depending on the number of participants.
