New Delhi [India], July 31 (ANI): The proposed qualification system for the cricket tournament during the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics has caused plenty of controversy, with Pakistan and New Zealand looking at the possibility of missing out on an automatic qualification.

Cricket will be making its return to the Olympics in 2028 after a massive 128 years, featuring last in the 1900 Olympics, when Great Britain defeated France to capture the gold in a one-off match. This move could potentially shake up the sport and popularise it like never before. The dates for the cricket tournament were confirmed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) this month, from July 12 to 29, with medal matches starting from July 20 for the women's event, while from July 29 for the men's event.

All the matches will take place at Fairgrounds in Pomona, 50km away from downtown Los Angeles. Six women's and men's teams each will be battling it out, with squads of up to 15 players each. The matches will be double-headers, with the first match in the morning and the second in the evening.

The qualification process was discussed earlier this month at ICC's Annual Conference, and it was reported that ICC had chosen to go with a regional qualifying format for the event, similar to the one used for T20 World Cups.

Under this, the top-ranked teams from Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa will get automatic qualification, which means that India, Australia, England (likely to compete as Great Britain) and South Africa will take their place in the men's event. This would leave space for two more teams, but the system to decide which two teams will get the remaining spots has not been decided upon, as per Wisden.

There have been reports that the USA could get an automatic qualification as hosts, leaving space for one more team. This would have a lot of impact on teams that have a high spot in rankings, but have another top team from their region above them in the ICC Rankings. In the Oceania region, New Zealand (4th spot) is ranked lower than Australia (2nd spot) in T20Is and could miss out on direct qualification.

Also, it could have serious implications for Pakistan, who are ranked at the eight spot in the men's rankings, with Sri Lanka being at seventh and arch-rivals India being at number one. Pakistan is missing out on a direct qualification would deprive the Olympics of a high-profile India-Pakistan clash, perhaps the biggest fixture during any ICC tournament.

Qualification for the women's event is set to be decided by the 2026 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, to be hosted by England. (ANI)