ODI Super League Revival

Right now, ODI cricket has no overarching league, which means every series stands on its own and doesn’t tie into any shared points table. After the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the Super League system was dropped, leaving the format without a clear structure. Now the ICC is debating whether the league should return in a revamped version – a discussion often framed around the idea of an ODI Super League revival. In this article, we’ll look at how things work today and what changes might be coming.

What’s Going On With ODI Cricket Now

There used to be a system called the ODI Super League: every series counted towards it, teams earned points, and the final standings determined who qualified directly for the World Cup. That structure is gone. Matches are still being played, of course, but they no longer tie together into one big competition.

ODIs are still part of every full member’s schedule. The difference is that each series is now a completely standalone event. Teams arrange their own calendars, play three- or five-match series. That’s basically where it begins and ends. It matters for the ICC rankings, but for the overall shape of the format, the impact is minimal. In practice, it looks something like this:

• India and England play their series. It wraps up, and nothing from it affects any other team.
• A month later Pakistan meets Australia, but those games also “live” on their own.
• There’s no unified table, no battle for positions, and no sense of “who’s climbing the ladder,” like we had back in the Super League days.

A lot of fans and analysts aren’t thrilled with this setup. Without a single structure, the one-day format loses any sense of a proper “season,” and it becomes harder for the audience to understand what’s actually happening in ODI cricket. Teams keep playing series, but those series feel like a bunch of disconnected fixtures rather than pieces of a bigger competition, which is exactly why the idea of an ODI Super League revival keeps resurfacing.

Another side effect: World Cup qualification has changed too. Associate nations are still playing in their own leagues and can advance through multi-stage qualifiers. But for full ICC members, there are no unified rules. Their regular ODI series have nothing to do with earning World Cup spots. Everything will be decided separately, through future qualifying tournaments.

Why the Super League Was Cancelled

The main reason the Super League was scrapped was the crowded calendar. Teams were struggling to find space for it because Test series, T20s, domestic leagues and commercial tournaments all overlap. When boards tried juggling everything at once, it became clear that mandatory Super League fixtures made scheduling way too rigid.

There was also a financial angle. National boards control their own schedules and rely on certain matchups to bring in TV revenue. The league forced teams to play opponents who don’t always draw big audiences. That hit profitability and made the schedule feel restrictive.

But removing the league entirely created another issue: fans lost the broader context of what’s going on in the format. And that’s where the idea of the ODI Super League revival is gaining traction

It seems the point is that ODI cricket needs a clear “backbone” for its season. The ICC is trying to find a version of the system that restores that structure without the same scheduling pressure that caused the original league to be shut down.