New Delhi: With less than 10 days to go, the anticipation is building for the T20 World Cup 2026. The 20-team mega-event is scheduled to begin on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka and promises to be a blockbuster one-month extravaganza full of excitement and thrills.
India enter the tournament as the defending champions, aiming to seal their third T20I world title on home soil. Though the Men In Blue will play Pakistan in Sri Lanka on February 15 under the hybrid model agreement.
Led by Suryakumar Yadav, India will go into the mega-event on the back of successive series wins against South Africa and New Zealand. With incredible batting depth and a bowling line-up filled with T20 specialists, India will be the team to beat.
The Men In Blue, under the leadership of Rohti Sharma, ended a long wait for the T20 title in 2024 when they beat South Africa in a thrilling final in Bridgetown. Rohit’s men romped to the title win in a remarkable unbeaten campaign, which ended with a fitting finale.
T20 World Cup 2026 favourites: Why India remain the team to beat?
Less than two years later, India, once again, enter the marquee event as hot favourites and are tipped to lift the title for the third time.
Along with India, Australia are also one of the favourites for the T20 World Cup crown. Based on betting odds, form, history, team strength and expert predictions, India and Australia are the top two contenders at the T20 World Cup 2026, held across India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.
As per Sportsnile.com, the odds chart heavily favours the Indians with 2.37 odds to win the title. Despite the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the Indian team looks extremely strong after the emergence of power hitters like Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma. Suryakumar Yadav’s return to form is bad news for the rivals.
The presence of superstar all-rounders Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel, world-class spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakrvarthy and seasoned pacers like Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh make India heavy favourites to become the first team to win back-to-back T20 world titles.
Australia’s T20 World Cup 2026 challenge rests on a well-rounded unit
Australia are second-favourites behind India as far as the betting odds are concerned. The 2021 World Cup champions boast a host of match-winners, including power hitters and multi-faceted players like Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (c), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, and Tim David.
Australia’s Travis Head follows the ball after playing a shot during a T20I match. (Image: PTI)
Australia also boast a potent bowling attack with quality pacers like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Xavier Bartlett, and Nathan Ellis forming a formidable pace attack, and Adam Zampa, Cooper Conolly and Matthew Short forming a handy spin attack in spin-friendly conditions. Australia’s pedigree and history in ICC events are other factors that make Australia one of the teams to beat in the mega-event.
Besides these two, teams like England, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan all have an outside chance to script history in the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup.