Few people might have been shocked when commentators on TV said during the first ODI between hosts South Africa and India at Boland Park in Paarl that the series is not part of the Cricket World Cup Super League. The CWC Super League started in 2019 is the qualification system for the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 to be hosted in India.
The reason as to why this three-match series is not part of the Super League is because according to ICC rules, each of the 13 teams part of the league, which includes the Netherlands as the only non-Test-playing member, have to play only eight series of three-match each against eight other teams.
"In some cases, they may play four or five matches in a series, but only three pre-decided matches will count for the Super League points," says the ICC. And thus, this series between South Africa and India is a pre-decided one. The Super League series between the two teams was supposed to be played in March 2020, however, due to Covid-19, it was postponed. It will now be played in 2022.
According to the rule of the Super League, "Each team plays three ODIs against eight other teams. Four of these are home series and four are away series. This means each team plays a total of 24 ODIs." Ten points are added for each win and five for a tie/no result/abandoned match.
The Indian team has so far played nine of its mandatory 24 games, three each against Australia (home), England (home) and Sri Lanka (away). It will next play South Africa (home), West Indies (home), Afghanistan (home), Zimbabwe and New Zealand (both away).
South Africa has so far played 10 games, three each against Ireland and Sri Lanka away from home, three against Pakistan (home) and one against the Netherlands which was washed out. The other two matches of its series against the Netherlands and an entire series against England at home has been postponed. Apart from those two series, it is supposed to play against Australia (away), Bangladesh (home) and against India (away).
At the end, when each team has played 24 games each, "The bottom five teams will play a qualifying tournament, which will also feature the best teams from the lower rungs of competition," says ICC.
As of now, England are at the top of the league having played 15 games and won nine of them, with one match washed out. They have 95 points. At the second spot is Bangladesh with 80 points from 12 games. The Netherlands with 25 points from four games is at the bottom. South Africa are in ninth place with 39 points from 10 games (one point deducted for slow over-rate).
Though it doesn't matter for India as it is already qualified for the World Cup by the virtue of being hosts, the men in blue sit at the seventh spot with 49 points from nine games (one point deducted for slow over-rate).