ICC finalises venues for 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka

News Desk 

Islamabad: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has finalised five venues in India and three in Sri Lanka to host matches for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to begin on February 7 and conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8.

According to reports, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai have been shortlisted as the Indian venues, while Colombo and Kandy are expected to host matches in Sri Lanka. The ICC is likely to release the official schedule next week, with less than three months remaining before the tournament begins.

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The tournament format will remain the same as the previous edition, featuring 20 teams divided into four groups of five. Each team will play the others in their group once, with the top two sides advancing to the Super Eight stage. The top two teams from each Super Eight group will progress to the semi-finals, followed by the final in Ahmedabad.

As per the agreement between the BCCI and PCB, Pakistan will play all their group and knockout matches in Sri Lanka, including the final if they qualify.

In addition to the co-hosts India and Sri Lanka, the automatically qualified teams include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, the United States, and West Indies—the top seven finishers from the 2024 edition. New Zealand, Pakistan, and Ireland qualified based on T20I rankings.

From the regional qualifiers, Canada secured the Americas spot, while Italy (making their maiden appearance) and Netherlands qualified from Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe advanced from the Africa qualifier, whereas Nepal, Oman, and the UAE made it through the Asia-East Asia Pacific (EAP) round.

India, the defending champions, will begin their title defence after defeating South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final held in Barbados.