The much-anticipated T20 World Cup 2026 schedule was announced on Tuesday with hosts India playing their first match against USA on February 7 in Mumbai. They’ll also face arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo on February 15 while their other matches are against Namibia and Netherlands in 12th and 18th February respectively.
The tournament set to feature 20 teams this time will take place in India and Sri Lanka from February 7.
The 5 Indian cities set to host the event are New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata. Sri Lanka will have 3 hots cities in Colombo, Kandy and Sinhalese.
The 20 teams who have qualified will be placed in four different groups of five sides each. Then, they will play the Super Eight stage where the top two finishers from each group will compete. Then the top two four sides will compete in the semi-finals.
The Men in Blue who are the defending champions will be led by Suryakumar Yadav with Rohit Sharma, the captain who won them the 2024 edition, retiring. Another stalwart of that team Virat Kohli has also hung up his boots from the shortest format.
In a meeting held among top BCCI officials, it was decided that this time the World Cup will be played in fewer cities compared to the 2023 World Cup, and each venue is expected to get at least six games each.
Meanwhile, the ICC has made it clear to the BCCI that if Sri Lanka qualifies for the semi-finals, the neighbouring country will be playing in Colombo. And if Pakistan makes it to the final, the tournament summit clash will be played at a neutral venue.
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The Indian board has made it clear that the India are to face Pakistan, then the game would be played in Sri Lanka as per the agreement signed before. After India refused to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy and the two boards got into an agreement which will them play their matches at neutral venues in ICC and continental tournaments.
Groups:
Group A: India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia
Group B: Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman
Group C: England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Nepal, Italy
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
Qualified Teams
India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States, West Indies, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Canada, Netherlands, Italy, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nepal, Oman, UAE