File photo of Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After hosting the recently concluded Women’s World Cup at unheralded centres in the country, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to take the upcoming 2026 T20 World Cup back to the Tier 1 centres. The global cricket body staged the WWC fixtures in Indore, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Navi Mumbai, while Pakistan played their matches in Colombo.The calls from the industry to rethink that strategy is getting louder and the T20 World Cup could well return to centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. Pakistan games could well be played in Colombo. There are strong arguments that while it is important to take the sport to the last mile but a tournament of T20 WC’s magnitude needs the right treatment.The last time India hosted a marquee ICC men’s event was in 2023 and the 50-over World Cup fixtures were played at Dharamsala, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
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There hasn’t been a formal word from the ICC on the matter yet but it’s understood that the top brass is thinking on similar lines during the ongoing meet in Dubai. A decision and formal announcement is expected in the coming days and could well see the aforementioned venues hosting the tournament. Ahmedabad remains front-runner to host the title clash but as of now all options are being explored by the stakeholders.Twenty teams will features in the multi-nation event in India and Sri Lanka and it will be played in the same format as the 2024 event. The 20 teams will be placed into four different groups of five sides each before the Super Eights phase that will include the top two finishers from each group.The Super Eights will feature two groups of four sides, with the top two finishers from each group then progressing to the knockout semi-finals.It will be interesting to see if India and Pakistan will be grouped together for the marquee event. The ICC is yet to announce the official schedule but the tournament is likely to commence in February. A detailed announcement is expected in the coming days.
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