The 2023 ODI World Cup will be a 10 Team affair and this is one of the most ridiculous decisions that the ICC has made in the last few years because a 10 Team tournament is not a World Cup because 10 teams do not constitute the world and the ICC has lost out on so many good teams who could have come to India and played the World Cup later in the year.
So, let’s look at the reasons why a 10 Team ICC ODI World Cup makes no sense.
10 Teams do not constitute a World Cup
First of all, 10 Teams do not constitute a World Cup in any sport and especially a sport that claims to be the second most popular sport in the world after Football but such decisions do not show that to be true. The ICC should not do a 10 Team World Cup because it looks bad on the sport and teams like the West Indies, Scotland, Ireland, Zimbabwe are missing out on India and if the World Cup was a 14 Team event like it will be from 2027, then it would have been a true World Cup. Having 9 of the top class teams and 1 associate nation is another problem.
Virtually no participation from the associate members
This is the second big issue with having a 10 Team World Cup because there is virtually no participation of any associate teams other than the Netherlands but teams like Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe deserved to play this World Cup because of how well they have played. If the ICC wants to make cricket popular then it has to involve more teams like in the T20I World Cup from 2024 there will be 20 teams which is a great decision and that will be a proper World Cup because teams who are not able to play traditionally will get to play the event and there will be more representation from the associate members.
A 10 Team ICC ODI World Cup is not good for the growth of cricket as a sport
Another reason why the 10 Team ICC ODI World Cup makes no sense is that the ICC says that it wants to grow the sport in nations where there are people who do not follow the sport and this World Cup was a great chance to introduce the Indian fans to these teams so that they would have gotten a bigger audience watching them play and in their home nation they would have also watched the event closely and more viewership as a result. However the current format of the World Cup which Is a round robin format in which all the teams will play against each other once is best suited for the ICC but to grow the sport and to keep the future of ODIs alive some changes have to be made.
