Mohini Yadav
Rahul Jethalal
The ODI World Cup 2027 schedule has been revealed for the 14-team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, which runs from 2 October to 21 November 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. It contains 57 matches at 12 venues, with India opening against Australia in Cape Town on 7 October and meeting Pakistan in Johannesburg on 10 October. This guide brings together India’s group fixtures, the new format, the qualifier route, knockout venues and the ticket-ballot rules in one place.
At a glance: dates, teams and matches
The tournament starts in Windhoek with a three-match Super Series on 2, 4 and 6 October. The group stage begins on 7 October, and the final is scheduled for Johannesburg on 21 November. The 57-match total breaks down into three Super Series matches, 30 group games, 21 Super 7 games, two semi-finals and the final.
Fourteen teams will take part. Ten had direct qualification at the 30 September 2026 cut-off: co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, plus the eight best teams on the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings. Four more places come through the World Cup qualifier, whose winner enters the group stage directly while the next three teams begin in the Super Series.
The group draw is straightforward for Indian fans. Group A contains India, Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Qualifier A. Group B contains New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh and Qualifier B. The two qualifier labels will be filled by the teams that emerge from the qualification process.
For scorecards and future match updates, keep FairPlay’s cricket hub bookmarked alongside this guide.
World Cup 2027 India schedule: every group fixture
India are listed as A1 in the published schedule. Their first five matches are all in the group stage, but the venues give the campaign a proper tour of the three host countries’ cricket map.
| Date | Match | Stage | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 7 October 2027 | India v Australia | Group A | Cape Town |
| Sunday, 10 October 2027 | India v Pakistan | Group A | Johannesburg |
| Thursday, 14 October 2027 | India v Afghanistan | Group A | Tshwane |
| Sunday, 17 October 2027 | India v Qualifier A | Group A | Bloemfontein |
| Sunday, 24 October 2027 | Zimbabwe v India | Group A | Victoria Falls |
The opener against Australia is a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final, while the Pakistan match arrives three days after the group stage begins. India’s last group game is the first World Cup match at the new ground in Victoria Falls, according to the ICC’s announcement. Results do not carry into the Super 7, so India’s route after 24 October will depend on qualification and the pre-seeded positions rather than a simple group-points carryover.
You can follow India’s build-up and match-day developments through FairPlay’s live scores page. This is a fixture list, not a prediction: the remaining qualifier teams are not known in the published schedule.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 venues across three hosts
The ICC cricket World Cup 2027 venues are spread across eight locations in South Africa, three in Zimbabwe and one in Namibia. The ICC’s published list is organised by host city, which is the clearest way to save the travel plan now:
| Host country | Published host locations |
|---|---|
| South Africa | Cape Town, Paarl, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Bloemfontein, Durban, KuGompo City and Gqeberha |
| Zimbabwe | Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls |
| Namibia | Windhoek |
Windhoek hosts all three Super Series matches and three group games. South Africa supplies the largest share of the tournament, while Zimbabwe’s return includes Harare, Bulawayo and the Victoria Falls venue. The ICC release identifies Newlands in Cape Town for India-Australia, Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg for India-Pakistan and Mosi-oa-Tunya Stadium for India-Zimbabwe.
For Indian supporters, the key practical point is that the fixtures are not concentrated in one city. India’s group route moves from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Tshwane, Bloemfontein and Victoria Falls, so flight and hotel planning matters as much as the match dates.
The 2027 World Cup format: qualifier to Super 7
The 2027 World Cup format has three competition rounds before the semi-finals.
Round 1 — Super Series: the second-, third- and fourth-placed teams from the World Cup qualifier play each other once in Windhoek. The top team advances to the group stage. These are the QF1 v QF3, QF1 v QF2 and QF2 v QF3 fixtures on 2, 4 and 6 October.
Round 2 — Group stage: 12 teams are split into two groups of six. Each side plays the other five teams in its group once, producing 30 matches. The top three from each group qualify for the next round, as does the better fourth-placed team across the two groups.
Round 3 — Super 7: seven teams play a complete single round robin, six matches per team and 21 matches overall. They start this phase on zero points, so group-stage results are not carried forward. The top four in the Super 7 standings reach the semi-finals.
The schedule uses pre-seeded positions to keep the later fixtures understandable even before the qualifiers are known: India are A1, Australia A2, Pakistan A3, England AB4, New Zealand B1, South Africa B2 and Sri Lanka B3. If a non-seeded team takes a qualifying place above one of those sides, it inherits the displaced team’s position in the fixture pathway.
That is why the published Super 7 list can show, for example, A1 v A3 without claiming that every named team will definitely reach that stage. The seed is a scheduling position; qualification still has to be earned on the field.
Semi-final and final venues
The top Super 7 team plays fourth, and second plays third. Semi-final 1 is scheduled for Cape Town on 17 November 2027, with semi-final 2 in Tshwane on 18 November. Both semi-finals have reserve days. The final is in Johannesburg on Sunday, 21 November, with 22 November set aside as its reserve day.
Those dates make the last week easier to plan: the Super 7 finishes on 14 November, there are two rest days before the first semi-final, and the final follows three days after the second semi-final. The actual teams and the semi-final pairing will only be known after the Super 7 table is complete.
FairPlay will carry schedule changes and tournament developments in its news section as official information is released.
World Cup 2027 qualifier and ticket ballot
The World Cup 2027 qualifier decides all four remaining tournament places. Its winner goes straight into Round 2. The runner-up, third-placed team and fourth-placed team go into the Windhoek Super Series, where one of them can claim the last group-stage place. In other words, four qualifier teams enter the wider tournament pathway, but only two can appear in the eventual 12-team group stage.
The ICC ticket ballot opened on 1 October 2026. Registration is free, and fans may submit one entry per person per match while entering for multiple matches. It is not first-come, first-served. If demand is higher than the allocation for a fixture, a randomised ballot decides who receives access to the ticket-purchase process. No payment is made during ballot registration.
The ballot remains open until 23:59 South Africa Standard Time on 21 November 2026. Applicants will be told by email whether their entry is successful or unsuccessful. Indian fans should therefore register before the closing time, save the India dates above, and keep this page handy when the final qualifier identities and ticket details are added.
Sources: ICC: ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 schedule revealed and ballot system opens · ICC: Fixture schedule announced for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027 · Olympics.com: Cricket World Cup 2027 schedule · The Hindu: ICC ODI World Cup 2027 full schedule, venues and India matches
This piece was written by the FairPlay Editorial Desk with AI assistance, using the published sources above. It was reviewed by Mohini Yadav and Rahul Jethalal of the FairPlay editorial team before publication. To report an error, see our Editorial Policy.
