The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 is scheduled to run from 2 October to 21 November 2027, with South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia sharing hosting duties. It will be a 14-team One Day International tournament comprising 57 matches, beginning with a short Super Series before the main group stage. For Indian supporters, the early schedule includes India’s opening main-round match against Australia in Cape Town and a Group A meeting with Pakistan in Johannesburg.
Three countries, 12 World Cup venues
The tournament will be spread across 12 grounds: eight in South Africa, three in Zimbabwe and one in Namibia. South Africa will stage the bulk of the event, including the two semi-finals and the final, while Zimbabwe and Namibia will have meaningful roles in the group phase and the initial Super Series.
This is the second time South Africa and Zimbabwe will co-host the men’s Cricket World Cup, following the 2003 edition. Namibia is set to host World Cup matches for the first time. The three-country arrangement gives the tournament a wider southern African footprint while retaining several established international cricket venues for the decisive matches.
South African venues
The eight South African venues named for the event are Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein, Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, Centurion Park, Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban, Buffalo Park in KuGompo City, St George’s Park in Gqeberha, Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg and Boland Park in Paarl.
Newlands will host the first semi-final, while Centurion Park will stage the second. Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium has been selected for the final. The final is therefore set to be played at one of the tournament’s larger grounds, while Cape Town and Centurion will host the two matches that determine its finalists.
Zimbabwe and Namibia venues
Zimbabwe’s matches will be held at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Harare Sports Club and the Mosi-oa-Tunya International Cricket Stadium in Victoria Falls. The Victoria Falls ground is a notable addition to the World Cup map, giving the country three host locations rather than concentrating the fixtures in its two traditional international centres.
Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek will host six matches, including all three Super Series fixtures at the start of the competition. That makes Windhoek especially important for the four sides emerging from the qualifying process, as three of them will begin their World Cup campaigns in the play-in round.
How the 2027 World Cup format works
The 2027 edition retains a 14-team field but uses a multi-stage structure designed to narrow the field before the knockout matches. The competition is divided into the Super Series, a group stage, the Super 7 stage and the semi-finals and final.
The format differs from a single league table because teams must advance through more than one phase. That means a strong start matters, but teams that reach the Super 7 will still have a further round-robin stage to establish their semi-final position.
Super Series: the opening play-in
The four teams that qualify through the World Cup Qualifier will not all enter the group stage in the same manner. The Qualifier winner advances directly to the 12-team main pool. The other three qualifying teams play a three-match round robin called the Super Series.
Only the winner of that three-team play-in progresses to the main competition. Cricinfo’s fixture listing places these matches in Windhoek on 2, 4 and 6 October 2027. This opening section is brief, but it carries substantial consequences: two teams will leave the World Cup before the principal group stage begins.
Groups, Super 7 and knockouts
The 12 teams in the main phase are divided into two groups of six. Each team plays the other sides in its group, creating 30 group-stage matches in total. The top three from each group advance automatically, joined by the better of the two fourth-placed teams.
Those seven sides then enter the Super 7, where every team plays the other six once. The top four progress to the semi-finals, with first playing fourth and second playing third. The winners meet in the final at Wanderers Stadium.
This structure rewards consistency across two stages. A team that slips into the Super 7 as the extra fourth-placed side can still build momentum there, but it must outperform several strong opponents to reach the last four.
Teams already in the field
South Africa and Zimbabwe qualified automatically as hosts. Eight more teams secured their places through the ICC ODI rankings cutoff of 30 September 2026: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
That leaves four places to be decided through the 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, scheduled from 26 February to 21 March 2027 in Namibia and South Africa. Namibia, despite being a co-host, does not have an automatic berth and must follow the standard qualification route.
| Qualification route | Teams or places |
| Co-hosts | South Africa, Zimbabwe |
| ODI rankings qualification | Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka |
| World Cup Qualifier | Four places still to be decided |
For India, qualification is already secured, but the final squad has not been announced. Selection discussions will naturally continue through the build-up, particularly around player balance, fitness and the best combination for ODI conditions across the three host nations.
India’s group and early fixtures
India are in Group A alongside Afghanistan, Australia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and one qualifier. Group B contains Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and one qualifier, according to Cricinfo’s tournament listing.
The first main-round fixture is scheduled for 7 October, when India face Australia in Cape Town. Afghanistan play Pakistan in Centurion the following day, while Zimbabwe meet a qualifier in Bulawayo on 9 October. India then play Pakistan in Johannesburg on 10 October.
The India–Pakistan fixture is among the most prominent early matches on the calendar, but the wider group schedule will be equally significant. With only three automatic spots in each group and one fourth-placed team progressing, every result can influence the path to the Super 7.
Reading the schedule with care
A tournament of this size creates plenty of pre-match discussion, especially once squads, player availability and venue conditions come into focus. However, readers should treat absolute claims about outcomes cautiously. The phrase today match prediction 100 sure reflects a common type of online search, but cricket results remain uncertain and depend on performance, conditions and match situations.
The more useful way to follow the event is to track confirmed fixtures, group standings and the qualification permutations created by each result. In the 2027 format, a team’s position in its group matters not only for advancement but also because it determines which sides enter the Super 7.
A compact World Cup with several stages
The 2027 Cricket World Cup will combine familiar ODI rivalries with a new tournament pathway. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will collectively host the event from 2 October to 21 November, while the final in Johannesburg will conclude a 57-match competition. India’s early fixtures against Australia and Pakistan give the group stage immediate significance, but the Super 7 will ultimately decide which four teams reach the semi-finals.
