ICC locks in 2028 T20 World Cup windows and 2029 WTC final dates
The International Cricket Council has put firm dates on several marquee events for the next cycle. The updated global events calendar was sent to member boards after the ICC's meetings in Dubai this month. It covers 12 men's, seven women's and five Under-19 events, including qualifiers, between the 2027 and 2031 ODI World Cups. Indian fans can now plan around the tournaments that matter most to them.
The back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2028 are the headline. The 12-team Women's T20 World Cup will be played in Pakistan from September 7 to October 1. The 20-team Men's T20 World Cup follows, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, from October 12 to November 12. That leaves only an 11-day gap between the women's final and the men's opener. Some earlier listings of the men's event showed a window starting on October 21 and ending on November 19, so the new calendar appears to bring the tournament forward by about a week.
For India, the Pakistan-hosted women's event comes with a familiar condition. Under the hybrid arrangement between the boards, India's matches in that tournament are to be played at a neutral venue. The ICC approved the qualification pathway for the tournament earlier this year, and the venues and match schedule have not yet been detailed. Expect the neutral-venue question to stay in the news until they are.
The men's tournament has extra weight for India. The team won the 2026 edition on home soil in March, beating New Zealand in the final to take a third T20 World Cup title. The 2028 event in Australia and New Zealand will be India's first chance to defend that title. The tournament keeps the 20-team format, and Australia and New Zealand qualify automatically as hosts. The first time New Zealand hosts the event, it will be played in conditions very different from the subcontinent pitches of 2026.
The Test calendar also gets a fixed date. The 2029 World Test Championship final will be played in England from June 8 to 12. It will decide the winner of the 2027-29 cycle, with the top two teams in the nine-team table qualifying. That cycle begins in June 2027, so India's Test planning over the next two years will be built around finishing in the top two.
The calendar also changes the Olympic timeline. Cricket returns to the Games at Los Angeles 2028 for the first time since 1904. The men's and women's qualifying tournaments were originally planned for 2027. They have now moved to January and February 2028, less than six months before the Games. Each qualifier is meant to have eight teams, chosen by ICC rankings, and venues are yet to be finalised. The ICC has also revised the direct-entry criteria for host nation USA in the women's event.
The women's calendar is crowded as well. The inaugural eight-team Women's Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka has been moved to a February 14-28 window in 2027, in the T20 format. India's women won the 50-over World Cup in 2025, so they will go into that event and the 2028 T20 World Cup as one of the strongest sides in the game.
The ICC's list sets the dates but leaves most of the detail open. Venues, match schedules and the final qualifying fields for the 2028 events have not been announced. For Indian fans the main takeaways are a title defence in Australia and New Zealand, a neutral-venue arrangement in Pakistan, and a June 2029 Test final in England that the team will want to reach.