2026 Men's T20 World Cup

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was first played in 2007 in South Africa, and the 2026 tournament marked its tenth edition. The ninth edition, held in 2024 in the West Indies and the United States, was contested by 20 teams, and was won by India, who defeated South Africa in the final. Host selection In November 2021, as part of the 2024–2031 ICC men's hosts cycle, the ICC announced that the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup would be played in India and Sri Lanka. Initially Sri Lanka Cricket proposed to host the entire tournament, however, due to expansion of the tournament to 20 teams from the previous edition and lack of cricket stadiums in Sri Lanka, it was decided to be co-hosted with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Sri Lanka had previously hosted the competition in 2012 and India in 2016. Format The tournament's format remained the same as the previous edition. The 20 qualifying teams were divided into four groups of five each. In the group stage, each team played each of the other teams in the group once in a round-robin format, and the top two teams in each group advanced to the Super 8 stage, where the teams were placed into two groups of four teams each. Prior to the tournament, the ICC had announced the eight seeded teams based on the ICC T20I rankings, who were placed in predetermined positions in the Super 8 stage, irrespective of their position in the group stage. If an unseeded team qualified at the expense of a seeded team, it took the position of the corresponding seeded team that failed to qualify from their group. In the Super 8 stage, each team played against each of the other teams in the group once. The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage, which consisted of two semi-finals, the winners of which faced off in the final. No points were carried over between stages. The ICC announced the final schedule on 25 November 2025, with the tournament scheduled to take place from 7 February to 8 March 2026. The teams will play 55 matches across five venues in India and three venues in Sri Lanka. On 26 January 2026, the ICC announced that warm-up matches would be held from 2 to 6 February. Prize money The ICC allocated a pool of $11.25 million in prize money for the tournament. The prize for winning was $2.45 million, with each team receiving an additional $31,154 for each match they won, excluding the semi-finals and final. Marketing In November 2025, former Indian captain Rohit Sharma was named as an ambassador for the tournament. The official theme song for the tournament, "Feel the Thrill", produced and performed by Anirudh Ravichander with lyrics by Heisenberg and Raqueeb Alam, was released on 30 January 2026. A remix version featuring Sri Lankan artist Dinesh Gamage, sub-titled "Tamil Sinhalese version", which replaced Hindi verses with Tamil and Sinhala verses, was released on 7 February. A promotional event, the "Captains' Carnival", featuring all the team captains and social media influencers, was held on 5 February in Mumbai and Colombo. On 6 February, the ICC announced that an opening ceremony would be held at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the third match of the opening day between India and the United States. Badshah, Nora Fatehi, Rishab Sharma, and Sivamani performed at the opening ceremony. == Qualification ==

The hosts, India and Sri Lanka, along with the top seven teams from the 2024 tournament: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, the United States, and the West Indies; directly qualified for the 2026 tournament. The remaining three direct qualification places were allocated to the next best-ranked teams in the ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings as on 30 June 2024, that had not finished in the top seven: Ireland, New Zealand, and Pakistan. The eight remaining places were filled through the ICC's regional qualifiers, consisting of two teams each from Africa and Europe regions, three teams combined from Asia and East Asia-Pacific and one team from the Americas. In June 2025, Canada qualified for the World Cup from the Americas region, followed by Italy and Netherlands from the Europe region in July. In October 2025, Namibia and Zimbabwe qualified from the Africa region, followed by Nepal, Oman, and United Arab Emirates from the combined Asia-EAP qualifier. Italy qualified for the men's T20 World Cup for the first time. Ahead of the 2026 tournament, Bangladesh withdrew from the tournament, and they were replaced by the next highest ranked T20I team: Scotland. == Venues ==

On 6 November 2025, the ICC announced the finalised venues for the World Cup, five in India: Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai; and three in Sri Lanka: R. Premadasa Stadium and Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in Colombo and Pallekele Cricket Stadium in Kandy. == Squads ==

Each team was allowed a maximum squad size of 15 players and was required to submit the provisional squad to the ICC by 8 January 2026. The teams were allowed to make changes to the squads until 31 January 2026. Any changes after this required permission from the ICC's technical committee. == Match officials ==

On 30 January 2026, the ICC released the list of match referees and umpires for the tournament. ; Match referees ; Umpires == Warm-up matches ==

A total of 16 warm-up matches were played from 2 to 6 February, involving 18 teams participating in the World Cup in addition to the India A and Sri Lanka A teams. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- == Group stage ==

The ICC announced the groups and fixtures on 25 November 2025, with group stage played from 7 to 20 February. The following table lists teams in order of their initial group stage seedings. Group A ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group B ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group C ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group D ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- == Super 8 stage ==

The top two teams from the four groups advanced to the Super 8 stage, where they were divided into two groups of four teams each. In the Super 8 stage, each team played the others in their respective group in a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals. Australia did not qualify for the Super 8 stage, and their place was taken by Zimbabwe. The ICC faced criticism for its pre-seeding system with critics also commenting that its tournaments have always been similarly unfair. The ICC replied that the pre-seedings were made to enable fans to safely arrange travel for their team's games. Group 1 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Group 2 ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- == Knockout stage ==

The knockout stage consisted of two semi-finals played on 4 and 5 March, and the final on 8 March. In the event of no minimum play (at least 10 overs per side) on the scheduled day and the reserve day, in the semi-finals, the team that finished higher in the Super 8 stage would progress to the final, and if no play were possible in the final, the teams would be declared as joint-winners. If any match ended in a tie, a Super Over would be used to determine the winner. If the scores in the Super Over were also tied, subsequent Super Overs will be played until there's a winner. The second semi-final was held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Otherwise, group 1 winner and group 2 runner-up will play in semi-final 1 while, group 2 winner and group 1 runner-up will play in semi-final 2. Indian opener Sanju Samson scored 89 runs from 46 balls along with half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. James Neesham dismissed Samson, Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the 16th over. In the final two overs, Shivam Dube scored 26 runs from 8 balls to take India to the total of 255 runs for the loss of five wickets—the highest total in a T20 World Cup knockout match. Chasing the target, New Zealand opener Tim Seifert was the only batter from his team to register a 50+ score; Mitchell Santner scored 43 runs, Daryl Mitchell scored 17 runs, while the remaining batters were dismissed for single-digit scores. New Zealand were all-out for 159 to see them lose by 96 runs. This was India's third T20 World Cup title victory, after 2007 and 2024. India were the first team to successfully defend their title to win two consecutive titles and the first tournament hosts to win. Suryakumar Yadav became the fourth Indian captain to win a major ICC event after Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. Jasprit Bumrah picked up four wickets for India, conceding only 15 runs in 4 overs and received the player of the match award. The match was attended by 86,824 fans. received the player of the match award for the final. == Statistics ==

Sahibzada Farhan of Pakistan scored the most runs in the 2026 tournament (383 runs from innings). This was also the most runs in a single T20 World Cup, surpassing Virat Kohli's 2014 record. A total of seven centuries were scored in the 2026 tournament surpassing the previous high of two in a single edition of T20 World Cup (2010, 2014, 2016 and 2022). Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy of India both took 14 wickets each and were tied for the most wickets in the 2026 tournament. == Team of the tournament ==

On 9 March, the ICC announced its team of the tournament with Sanju Samson being named as player of the tournament and Aiden Markram as the captain of the team. was named as the captain for the ICC's team of the tournament. == Controversies ==

Withdrawal of Bangladesh After the Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders, on the BCCI's request, from the 2026 Indian Premier League squad, on 3 January 2026, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested for Bangladesh's matches at the World Cup to be moved from India, citing security reasons. Officials from the ICC met with members of the BCB to try and find a solution to the issue. On 6 January, ESPNcricinfo reported that the ICC rejected the BCB's request and Bangladesh would forfeit points if they refused to play. A day later, the BCB denied this, stating, "the ICC has conveyed its willingness to work closely with the BCB to address [our] concerns". On 12 January, media reported that the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and the Kerala Cricket Association offered to host the matches at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai and Greenfield International Stadium at Thiruvananthapuram respectively instead of Eden Gardens and Wankhede Stadium in India. The same day, the ICC refused Bangladesh's security assessment, stating that "there was no overall threat to the [team]" and that there was "low to moderate risks [to the team] in some venues and low to nil in others". A day later, the BCB reiterated its request to move Bangladesh's matches outside of India citing security concerns. On 17 January, the BCB requested to swap groups with Ireland, who were scheduled to play their matches in Sri Lanka, which was rejected by the ICC. On 18 January, the ICC announced that the final decision on the matter would be taken after the board meeting scheduled on 21 January. Following the meeting on 21 January, the ICC refused to shift Bangladesh's matches, and offered a revised deadline of one day for the BCB to decide on the participation. The next day, the BCB reiterated their refusal to play in India. On 24 January, the ICC officially announced that Bangladesh would be replaced by Scotland, the next highest ranked team in the ICC T20I rankings, who had not qualified for the tournament. In a press release issued on 9 February 2026, the ICC stated that no financial, sporting, or administrative penalty would be imposed on the BCB with regards to its withdrawal from the tournament. It also said that the BCB have the right to appeal against the same as per existing ICC regulations, and Bangladesh would be given the hosting rights to an ICC event in the 2028–2031 events cycle. India–Pakistan tensions On 1 February, the Pakistani government allowed its cricket team to participate in the World Cup but directed the team not to play its match against India on February 15. While the PCB did not officially communicate the decision to the ICC, it was reportedly taken in protest against the ICC's refusal to relocate Bangladesh's matches out of India. The ICC warned the PCB of possible sanctions for a potential boycott of the match against India. Following discussions between the ICC, PCB and BCB, on 9 February, During the India–Pakistan match on the 15 February 2026, there was no handshake between the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and the Pakistani captain Salman Ali Agha, which typically happens during coin tosses, and among players after the match is concluded. This policy has continued since the 2025 Asia Cup, due to the Pahalgam terror attack and the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict. However, this is the first time this has occurred in an ICC tournament. == Broadcasting ==

JioStar handled the global broadcasting rights as part of its deal with the ICC, and the global broadcasters for the tournament were confirmed by the ICC on 5 February 2026. The matches were broadcast across more than 80 territories. JioHotstar provided a vertical live feed along with 360 degree view and multi-camera features. Commentators The ICC released the following list of commentators for the tournament on 6 February 2026. Viewership The semi-final 2 between India and England had a peak of 65.2 million concurrent viewers and a total of 619 million views, becoming the most watched T20 match, surpassing 2024 Men's T20 World Cup final. The final match had a peak of 72.5 million concurrent viewers. == References ==