NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday released the full schedule for the upcoming 2026 T20 World Cup. The tournament will start on February 7 in Colombo with Pakistan facing the Netherlands, followed by West Indies playing Bangladesh.India will open their title defence later the same day against the USA in Mumbai. The defending champions’ second match is against Namibia in Delhi on February 12. The India-Pakistan match is set for February 15 in Colombo, and India will complete their group-stage fixtures against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on February 18.
The group stage will feature three matches each day.Under an agreement finalised earlier this year for multi-nation events hosted by India or Pakistan, the ICC has alternate venues in place for the knockout stage. If Pakistan reach the semifinals or the final, those matches will be held in Colombo. If Pakistan do not reach the final, the title match will be staged at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8. Mumbai will host one semifinal and Kolkata the other if Pakistan are not in the knockout rounds.India and Sri Lanka will jointly host the 20-team event across 29 days at eight venues — five in India and three in Sri Lanka. The grounds are: Narendra Modi Stadium (Ahmedabad), MA Chidambaram Stadium (Chennai), Arun Jaitley Stadium (New Delhi), Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai), Eden Gardens (Kolkata), R. Premadasa Stadium (Colombo), Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground (Colombo) and Pallekele International Cricket Stadium (Kandy).A total of 40 group matches will take place from February 7 to 20, after which the top two teams from each group will move to the Super Eights starting February 21.
Groups for the 2026 T20 World Cup:
Group A: India, USA, Namibia, Netherlands, PakistanGroup B: Australia, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland, OmanGroup C: England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Italy, NepalGroup D: South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
