How to watch 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup

Jonathan Victoria • 05 Feb 2026 Guides

Plus more information ahead of the tournament.

The 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup is here, bringing together many of the world's top T20 sides and players to compete for the coveted silver trophy.

With the latest edition set to start this weekend, find out the key information such as when and where it is, the teams involved, and most importantly, how to watch the 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup.

How to watch 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup

The 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup will be shown live in its entirety exclusively on Sky Sports.

Sky Sports holds the broadcasting rights to ICC cricket, having retained them in a deal made back in January 2023, which started in 2024 and will run until 2031.

The deal means that all men’s and women’s ICC events, such as the T20 World Cups and ICC Cricket World Cups (ODI format), will be hosted exclusively on Sky Sports.

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup on Sky Sports

Sky Sports has its own dedicated cricket channel, Sky Sports Cricket, which will primarily be the home of the tournament. A select number of games will also be available to watch on Sky Sports Main Event, such as the final.

In order to access these channels, you must have a valid Sky Sports subscription, for which you need Sky TV first.

If you are not a Sky customer already, you can opt for a package that puts Sky Sports and Sky TV’s basic package, Sky Essential TV & Netflix, together for ease.

For existing customers with Sky TV but without Sky Sports, you can amend your existing package and add Sky Sports, either on a rolling 30-day or 18-month contract.

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup on NOW TV

NOW TV offers a Sports Membership which gives you access to all Sky Sports channels in full HD.

The membership is available with no contract options, with a day membership and flexible month membership available, or a cheaper six-month saver membership which comes with a minimum term of six months.

NOW is available to watch on many devices, including: 

• Smart TV’s
• Streaming sticks (Fire Stick etc.)
• PC/Laptop
• Mobile
• Tablet
• Console

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup on other devices

Sky Sports is available as a TV channel on Sky Stream, Sky Glass and Sky Q, but is also available online via the Sky Sports website/web app, as well as via the devices listed above.

You may also access Sky Sports via Sky GO on any device that has the app installed.

When is the 2026 cricket T20 World Cup?

The 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup begins this weekend on Saturday 7th February.

Where is the 2026 cricket T20 World Cup?

Defending champions India will be collaborating with Sri Lanka to host this year's T20 World Cup.

India will take the brunt of the competition, with five venues across the nation sharing the duties of 35 games, including the world’s largest stadium by capacity, the Narendra Modi Stadium. 

Sri Lanka has a further three venues with a total of 22 games hosted between them.

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Venues

India

• Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad | 132,000 capacity | 7 matches (incl. Final)
• Eden Gardens, Kolkata | 68,000 capacity | 7 matches (incl. Semi-final 1)
• Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium, Delhi | 55,000 capacity | 6 matches
• M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai | 39,000 capacity | 7 matches
• Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | 33,108 capacity | 8 matches (incl. Semi-final 2)

Sri Lanka

• R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo | 35,000 capacity | 10 matches
• Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy | 35,000 capacity | 7 matches
• Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground (SSC Cricket Ground), Colombo | 10,000 Capacity | 5 matches

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Teams

There will be 20 nations competing in this year’s World Cup, the second year to feature this many sides since the increase from 16 for the 2024 edition.

Hosts India and Sri Lanka automatically qualified for the tournament, while the top seven teams from the 2024 World Cup also saw a straight-through pass to this year’s competition.

There were three remaining automatic qualification spots, which were allocated to the next best-ranked teams in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings as of 30th June 2024 who had finished in the top seven.

The remaining eight spots were filled through the ICC’s regional qualifiers, consisting of two teams each from Africa and Europe, three teams combined from Asia and East Asia-Pacific, and one team from the Americas.

There is only one debuting team this year, with Italy gaining entry through the Europe qualifiers. 

Bangladesh were originally set to feature, having been one of the seven top teams from the 2024 competition, but after their refusal to compete in India, they were replaced by Scotland, the next highest ranked team in the Team Rankings.

Here is the full list of teams:

Host

• India
• Sri Lanka

2024 Men’s T20 World Cup top seven (six)

• England
• Australia
• South Africa
• Afghanistan
• West Indies
• United States

ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings

• Scotland
• New Zealand
• Pakistan
• Ireland

Europe Qualifiers

• Netherlands
• Italy

Asia-East Asia-Pacific Qualifiers

• Oman
• Nepal
• United Arab Emirates

Africa Qualifiers

• Namibia
• Zimbabwe

Americas Qualifier

• Canada

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Format

Three stages make up the tournament: the Group stage, the Super Eight stage and the Knockout stage.

Group stage

The Group stage consists of four groups of five teams, with each team playing four games.

The top two teams from each group will then go through to the Super Eights. 

Super Eight stage

In the Super Eight stage, the remaining eight teams will once again be split into groups, this time two groups of four.

Each team will then play another three games to determine the top two of their group, who will then go on to the Knockout stage.

Knockout stage

The Knockout stage consists of two Semi-finals, where the winner of each will then go through to the Final.

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Schedule

The 2026 Cricket T20 World Cup gets underway this Saturday starting with the Group stage, which will last from 7th - 20th February. There will be three games on every day starting Saturday 7th up until Thursday 19th, then one final Group Stage game on Friday 20th.

Following the Group Stage will be the Super Eight stage, which lasts from 22nd February - 1st March. The proceeding teams from that stage will enter the Semi-finals, which will be played on 4th and 5th March.

Here is the full schedule for the Group Stage matches:

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup groups 

Group stage

Group A – India, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, USA

Group B – Australia, Ireland, Oman, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe

Group C – England, Italy, Nepal, Scotland, West Indies

Group D – Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UAE

The top two teams from each group will go through to the next stage. They will be designated X and Y followed by a number, which will correspond to which group they are in.

Super Eight Stage

The top two teams from each group will be put into either Group 1 or Group 2, with no two teams from the same group in the Group stage being put together.

Group 1 – X1, X2, X3, X4

Group 2 – Y3, Y4, Y1, Y2

Like with the Group stage, the top two teams of these groups will then go through to the Knockout stage.

Here is the full schedule for the Super Eight stage:

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Knockout stages

The Super Eight stage will decide the four teams who will go through to the single game elimination Semi-finals. 

The two games will be played on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th March. The winners will then go on to play in the final.

Times and locations for the Semi-finals will be confirmed closer to the time; however, the currently look as such:

Semi-final 1

• Wednesday 4th March at 1:30pm | Eden Gardens

Semi-final 2

• Thursday 5th March at 1:30pm | Wankhede Stadium

2026 Cricket T20 World Cup: Final

The final will take place on Sunday 8th March, with the start time currently scheduled for 1:30pm.

The final will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium.

Cricket T20 World Cup winners

From the nine editions of the World Cup so far, there have been six winners. Only the West Indies and England have won the competition twice.

No team has ever won in consecutive years, although hosts India, who are favourites heading into the tournament, have the chance to do so this year.

• Here is the list of winners:
• 2007 - India
• 2009 - Pakistan
• 2010 - England
• 2012 - West Indies
• 2014 - Sri Lanka
• 2016 - West Indies (2)
• 2021 - Australia
• 2022 - England (2)
• 2024 - India (2)