Jay Shah's ICC To Take Biggest Call On WTC Future, Olympics Future

Jay Shah and Gautam Gambhir (Source: AFP and X)

In a developing update, the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC) are eager to take major steps to promote the sport internationally in their quarterly meeting for the year 2026. 

The ICC is making amends to make cricket a globally recognised sport, as it was followed by a very limited audience. However, with the reintroduction of cricket in the Olympics, the sport will gather more eyeballs than it generally gets. 

The Los Angeles Olympics 2028 are scheduled to include cricket alongside 34 other sports. Both men’s and women’s teams will contest the prestigious event for gold, silver, and bronze medals in their respective categories. 

Apart from the Olympics, the World Test Championship is on the ICC radar. Introduced as a medium to popularise the longest format, the WTC is slowly losing its prominence. However, the Jay Shah-led ICC is looking to restructure WTC’s format. 

ICC to expand WTC to 12-team event

Reportedly, the ICC and CEC are pushing to expand the World Test Championship from being a nine-country event to 12-team league from the next cycle - starting in July 2027. 

The Jay Shah-led board is eager to loop in upcoming Test nations Ireland and Afghanistan, alongside Zimbabwe. 

Currently, India, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, the West Indies, England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the nine countries that contest in the WTC.

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ICC to finalise qualification process for LA Olympics

However, cricket's global governing body has to finalise the qualification process for the six-team men’s and women’s competitions at the Los Angeles Olympics 2028, which is all but finalised.

Team USA being the host will one of the six cricket teams in the LA Olympics 2028. Meanwhile, the remaining five teams will be shortlisted through their seedings in the regional rankings - Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa. The final spot will be determined by a single global qualifier likely to be held in 2027. 

However, ICC has yet to announce the qualification process. 

How does WTC cycle works?

Each team plays six countries in a series (three at home and three away) of their choice over two years to qualify for the WTC final. The top two teams with the highest percentage points after a WTC cycle qualify for the final. 

However, there is already a head-to-head difference between the top sides and the bottom-ranked teams. And with three more countries set to come in, the gap will only widen. 

Having said that, it is far from finalised, as some of the top-ranked are still opposed to ICC's idea. 

"The CEC has given approval, although there is still uncertainty over the sentiments of a couple of the more influential cricket countries," a report from Cricket Financial Journal read.

Interestingly, there were various recommendations given to the ICC to bring in a two-tier system in the WTC to make it more competitive, although various full members are opposed that idea. 

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