Next T20 World Cup will be held in India and Sri LankaImage Credit source: PTI
As soon as the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025 ends, preparations for the next tournament have started. This World Cup played in India and Sri Lanka proved to be good. Now ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 is to be organized in these two countries. Venues have been shortlisted for this tournament to be held in February-March. In India, 5 cities have been made venues for this World Cup, while 3 stadiums in Sri Lanka have been decided. Not only this, the venues for the semi-final matches have also been shortlisted, in which 2 venues in India and one in Sri Lanka have been decided. But Mumbai and Delhi have not been able to host the knockout matches.
These venues were selected for the semi-finals
A Cricbuzz report has revealed that Kolkata’s Eden Gardens Stadium and Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium have been shortlisted for the semi-finals of this 20-team T20 World Cup. A stadium in Colombo has also been selected for the semi-finals. The reason for this is Pakistan, which will play all its matches of the tournament in Sri Lanka. It has been agreed between ICC and BCCI that if Sri Lanka and Pakistan or either of them reach the semi-finals then they will play their matches in Colombo.
Decision pending on final, not in Delhi-Mumbai race
Due to this, Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium and Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium will have to stay away from hosting these big matches. However, it is also clear that if neither of the two teams reaches the semi-finals, then both these semi-finals will be played in Kolkata and Ahmedabad only. As far as the final is concerned, its venue has not been decided yet. It is believed that the title match will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. However, if the Pakistani team reaches the finals, then the competition for the trophy will also take place in Colombo.
The format will remain the same as the last World Cup
Talking about the venue, T20 World Cup matches will be played in India in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad. Whereas in Sri Lanka, two stadiums in Colombo and one stadium in Kandy have been selected for this World Cup. As far as the format is concerned, this time also the tournament will be organized in the same way as it was held in 2024. All 20 teams will be divided into 4 different groups of 5 each. Then the top 2 teams of the four groups will reach the Super-8 round and from there 4 teams will qualify for the semi-finals.