Siddhartha Talukdar

Hi @Sindo, the program for Men's Cricket with hosts for respective tournaments has been announced till 2031. The link is here Australia & New Zealand will host 2028 T20 World Cup in October which is after Olympics For Women's Cricket, the program has been announced till 2029 with host named for ICC tournaments till 2028 T20 World Cup. Link is here. The host for 2028 World Cup is Pakistan but the schedule hasn't been announced yet, but generally its expected to be around Feb-Mar. Link

Hi @Sindo, can you add Women's 2026 T20 Cricket World scheduled in England & Wales during 12 Jun - 5 Jul. Link - link

No Canada got Switzerland which is tricky

Somehow gets in the draw

All pots are according to FIFA rankings except for playoffs.

My randomized groups observing all rules Group A - Europe Path B Group B - Group C - IC 2 Group D - Europe Path A Group E - . IC 1 Group F - . . Group G - . . Group H - Group I - . . Group J - . . Europe Path D Group K - . . Europe Path C Group L - . .

Yeah, I am aware of this. Host Nation generally gets top seed. But if the host is weak then the host's group winner gets it easy in the knockouts. Eg Uruguay in 2010, Netherlands in 2022

Why is no one talking about the draw for the inter-continental playoffs? IC-2 includes teams from South America, North America, and Asia, which means its winner will end up in a group alongside two European teams and an African team. The main issue is that the draw takes place before the playoffs, so we don’t know the identities of those teams—or which pots they actually deserve to be in. Another problem is the FIFA rankings themselves. Intra-continental comparisons are usually fine: Iran is clearly stronger than Qatar, Costa Rica is stronger than Haiti, Colombia is stronger than Bolivia, and so on. But globally the rankings don’t always reflect reality. Is Iran really the 20th-best team in the world when most of its players are in the domestic league, whose clubs rarely go past the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League? Or look at Ivory Coast: ranked 42nd, yet they’re African champions with players across major European leagues. A third issue is that FIFA doesn’t do much to ensure a balanced knockout stage. In most sports, the top four seeds are placed so they can’t meet before the semifinals. FIFA’s system doesn’t guarantee that kind of structure.

In 1954, quarter finals were played where group winners played each other and runners up played each other

Till 2014, draws used to be based on continental zones. Since 2018 pots are based on rankings so groups could be more balanced. But rankings can never be accurate unless nations from inter-continents play more competitive matches. Also, suddenly if a lower ranked team nation gets decent players like Norway or a higher ranked team have lesser quality players like Italy who are ranked 10th right now

Are we playing Cricket 10 times!!

FIH Hockey World Cup is simulation event but the tournament is generally held once in 4 years with the next scheduled in 2026 and the previous one was held in 2023. Otherwise there were no relavant tournaments in 2025 You can go with rankings as they are a decent indicator of top teams Rankings - link In Cricket, there are three main formats played internationally - Test, 50 over One-Day Internationals (ODI), Twenty 20 or T20. The Olympics shall be played in T20 format which also the most widespread, short and thrilling format. T20 World Cup is relevant simulation event which happens every 2 years. The previous one occurred in 2024 and the next one is in 2026. Again rankings are a decent indicator Rankings - men women

Yes, you do. is currently 81st in T20 rankings here: rankings Also finished last in Americas sub-regional qualifier for 2026 T20 World Cup - tournament

Detailed breakup Archery - 8: Men's + Women's team in recurve and 2 in mixed team compound Athletics - 25 ish: Average contingent size has been 25-30 in the past Badminton - 8: One quota each in all the five events. Second quota in MS and WS depends on which of the current juniors step up Boxing - 6: Average figure Cricket - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Equestrian - 1: Someone in dressage or eventing. Team also possible Field Hockey - 30: Both men's and women's team should qualify Golf - 4 Judo - 1 Rowing - 1 Sailing - 2 Shooting - 22: Very good depth in rifle and pistol. 2 quota in shotgun could happen too Squash - 2: One male and one female Swimming - 2 Table Tennis - 4: Not aware how many doubles can qualify from one NOC. Conservative figure of two singles players qualifying each per gender Tennis - 2: Men's Doubles possible Weightlifting - 1 Wrestling - 7: Even with federation issues we somehow qualify a decent number Total: 156 Optimistic qualifiers Fencing - 1: Bhavani Devi or Taniksha Khatri Equestrian - 3: Team qualification realistic Track Cycling - 1: Lets see how crop of Ronaldo and Beckham progress

Draw Simulation video of BWF World Championships

You can probably add 3x3 Basketball - https://fiba3x3.basketball/2025/worldcup Table Tennis - https://www.worldtabletennis.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Overview&eventId=3108&innerselectedTab=Scheduled

Table Tennis in May, Judo in June, While Badminton in August; Wrestling, Archery, to take place in September

My two cents here. I feel ICC sees 2028 Olympics as a write off as there are too few teams and no stadiums to have a proper tournament. The only positive are Americans get exposure to a new sport and their team and perhaps more participation in the future, for IOC a lucrative broadcast deal especially catering to India market. I think the real decent tournament with 8-12 teams shall be in 2032 onwards with historic cricket venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

So Italy innings is over and they scored 134. So Netherlands have to win to qualify after Jersey's win earlier in the day Italy current NRR: 1.722 Jersey current NRR: 0.306 If Netherlands score 135 runs in 84 balls or 14 overs then Italy NRR shall be 0.296 and if Netherlands score in 85 balls or 14.1 overs so Italy NRR shall be 0.319. So restricting after 85 balls is the magical target for Italy

Italy virtually qualified unless they lose heavily against Netherlands. Will you be traveling to India if Italy qualifies

This tournament is a dress rehearsal of FIFA World Cup replacing the Confederations Cup. So it will be held a year prior to the World Cup and played in the host country. So 2029 Club World Cup shall be held in either Spain, Portugal or Morocco

Sir Alex had poor record of transfers since Ronaldo left in 2009, which left the team stale and ageing; but the team was still winning because of past aura and sheer will. Since he left, the job is big for any manager not helped by poor scouting and transfer policy. The club needs focused ownership and management from the top

Westerners are not naive. They know India is going to be the next superpower and need Pakistan to needle India. Already, Turkish drones, Chinese AD and US planes were no match for indigenous weapons. So they wanted to stop the war asap to stop getting exposed. The weapons industry is huge so the aura of Chinese and US weapons had to be maintained. But Western hegemony is crumbling quickly. Australia and UK were so eager to do FTA with India. Already UK has suggested 'sharing access' to Kohinoor Diamond to increase cultural bonds

Actually we should care for India to prosper that Pakistan must break and take back PoK because it will achieve several objectives 1) A more stable border in the west 2) Remove false sense of superiority among the minority in South Asia. Notice how Bangladesh is completely quiet 3) Increased geopolitical influence. Notice none of the Western countries and Middle East are practically ignoring the situation which means they support India 4) A stable Central Asia including Afghanistan as they can access warm water ports in Arabian Sea if western part of Pakistan is broken off 5) More electricity and water as PoK is major catchment area for Indus river system

India is very much interested in riding the escalation ladder and breaking Pakistan into new sovereign states. Several aspects are different this time compared to 2019 which means India has definitely learnt how to fight the propaganda war 1) Disregarding the IWT which forced Pakistani elite to bluster which only brings their stupidity like Mr Tarar confirming to harbour terrorists on international media 2) Naming 'Operation Sindoor' ('sindoor' or vermillion is applied to Hindu women forehead during wedding) which is symbolic in itself 3) Press conference by women Army officers especially showing photos of before and after the missile strike. Having women in conference is also symbolic in itself including one from minority community 4) Hitting in Punjab which would ensure proof as Pakistan cares about that province only