West Indies Fail To Qualify For 2027 World Cup Afghanistan

Afghanistan beating Ireland by 92 runs in a rain-hit second ODI on Friday helped them secure automatic qualification to the 2027 World Cup and conversely, it confirmed that West Indies will have to go through the qualifiers again to reach the tournament. It is the third consecutive time that the West Indies, who had won the first two editions of the tournament, have failed to make the cut for automatic qualification.

The West Indies are currently placed 10th on the ODI rankings. The Full Member teams ranked in the top eight of the ODI rankings, excluding the hosts, gain automatic qualification to the World Cup. South Africa are the only host within the top eight, with Zimbabwe ranked 11th, which means that while the team ranked ninth – Bangladesh – are also in line to gain automatic qualification, the 10th place West Indies are out of contention.

West Indies needed Ireland to win the series against Afghanistan 5-0 or 4-1, and then beat India 2-0 in their upcoming ODI series in the country. The first ODI was washed out and the second has been won by Afghanistan, which means Ireland can only won the series 3-1 if they win all the remaining matches. This now means that 2-0 win against India would not be enough for the West Indies to break into the top nine of the ICC rankings. The last time West Indies won a bilateral ODI series against India was in 2006 and their last bilateral ODI series win in India was 2002.

West Indies failed to make it to the 2019 World Cup directly but dominated the qualification tournament to secure passage. They failed to gain automatic qualification to the 2023 tournament in India as well but this time, they couldn’t go through the qualifiers.

West Indies had won the first two editions of the tournament in 1975 and 1979 and were the favourites to win in 1983 as well, before famously losing to an unheralded Indian side in the final. They are still one of just three teams to have won the tournament more than once, along with India, who have also won it twice, and Australia, who have won it six times.

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