India will host the 2029 Champions Trophy from October 9-28 and co-host the 2031 ODI World Cup with Bangladesh from October 9-November 23. The dates for events in the next four years have been confirmed after International Cricket Council’s board meeting in Bali on Sunday with Australia and New Zealand set to host the 2028 T20 World Cup between 12 Oct-12 Nov and UK to host the 2030 T20 World Cup from July 4-August 4. India last hosted the Champions Trophy in 2006 and the last time it hosted the ODI World Cup was in 2023.
The 2032-35 events structure resembles the 2028-31 cycle announced earlier. Two T20 World Cups (2032, 2034) and an ODI Champions Trophy (2033) will be played as before with the ODI World Cup (2035) remaining a quadrennial event. Although event venues of the next four years are yet to be finalised, the windows are identical as 2028-31, suggesting the same continents may get hosting rights.
Continuation of the events structure suggests the ICC’s continued reliance on its annual white-ball events to fund the game. Although there may be fewer bilateral white-ball cricket series, the requisite matches to help teams prepare for respective world events will continue.
However, the final word on the ICC events programme would be made by the broadcasters. The ICC will soon to go to the market with this entire bouquet of events with realistic expectations in light of the changed broadcasting landscape.
The World Test Championship final too will continue to be held every two years. Although the venue for the 2033 and 2035 WTC finals are yet to be announced, a June window being earmarked suggests it would continue to be held in England, where the format enjoys popular appeal.
No WTC expansion
Officials who attended the meeting confirmed that plans to expand the WTC to 12 teams did not have enough takers and the soon-to-be-announced match-ups will comprise the existing nine teams. As reported by HT in August, lack of commercial viability for a number of Test match-ups outside the Big three nations is a primary reason.
Among the three Test nations, currently out of the WTC mix, Zimbabwe and Ireland did push for an inclusion in the meeting.
Dubai to be India’s neutral venue
The 2028 women’s T20 World Cup will stay in Pakistan with the current arrangement to have India’s matches in neutral venues set to continue. It can be confirmed that Dubai has been earmarked as the neutral venue for this event. Pakistan is also known to be in running to get another ICC event in the 2032-35 cycle.
ICC Qualifiers for LA28
The ICC Men’s Qualifier for LA28 Olympics will take place from February 5-13, 2028, in Bangladesh prior to the ICC Women’s Qualifiers, which will run from February 26-March 5, 2028 in the USA.
Four teams — India, Great Britain, Australia and South Africa — have already qualified for the women’s Olympics and the finalists from the qualifying rounds will complete the competing pool.
In the men’s event, the highest-ranked eligible teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania on Dec 31, 2026 will take the first four berths with the qualifiers deciding the other two. Hosts USA will not enjoy an automatic qualification.