Venues finalised for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup
The ICC has confirmed Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as India’s five host cities for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka. The tournament is scheduled to begin on February 7 and conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8.
Sri Lanka will host matches in Colombo and Kandy, with both cities shortlisted by the ICC as co-host venues.
Once an important venue, Bengaluru will not host any matches. The city was removed from the Women’s ODI World Cup schedule earlier this year after the Karnataka State Cricket Association failed to secure safety clearances following the stampede at RCB’s IPL victory celebrations in June.
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host the final with a capacity of over one lakh spectators. However, if Pakistan qualify for the final, the match will be moved to Sri Lanka, following an agreement between the BCCI and PCB to play at neutral venues until 2027 during multi-nation tournaments. All of Pakistan’s group and Super Eight matches will also take place in Sri Lanka.
The ICC is expected to release the full tournament schedule soon, with only three months remaining before the opening match. Participating teams are awaiting confirmation of their group allocations and match schedules, while ticketing details are yet to be announced.
The 2026 T20 World Cup will follow the same format as the 2024 edition. A total of 20 teams will compete, divided into 4 groups of 5 teams each. Each team will play the others in its group once. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Eight stage, which will have 2 groups of 4 teams. The top two sides from each Super Eight group will reach the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final.
Along with hosts India and Sri Lanka, 7 teams earned automatic qualification based on their performance at the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh (now Scotland), England, South Africa, West Indies and the United States of America.
Three more teams qualified via the T20I rankings – New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland. The remaining eight teams progressed through regional qualifiers:
- Canada qualified from the Americas.
- Italy (making their debut) and Netherlands advanced from Europe.
- Namibia and Zimbabwe secured their places from Africa.
- Nepal, Oman and UAE booked their spots through the Asia-EAP route.
Defending champions India will be one of the favourites to win the title again. They defeated South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados.