ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is going to start from 7th February in India and Sri Lanka. Before the tournament, all the teams will finalize their preparations through warm-up matches. These practice matches will be played from February 2 to February 6, where teams will test themselves according to their playing combination, strategy and conditions.
This time a total of 16 warm-up matches have been scheduled, which will be played in Bengaluru, Navi Mumbai and Chennai in India apart from Colombo in Sri Lanka. The purpose of these matches is only preparation, hence their results will not be added to the points table of the tournament. The special thing is that in these matches, teams can try their entire 15-member squad and it is not necessary to announce the final playing eleven after the toss. There is no strict rule regarding playing 11 in these matches.
Important match for India
The eyes of Indian fans will be especially on 4th February, when the defending champion Indian team will face South Africa. This match will be played at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. With this match, India would like to test the strength of its batting and bowling.
Which teams will get a chance to practice?
Strong teams like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand will participate in the warm-up matches. Apart from this, associate teams like America, Nepal, Italy and Canada will also get a chance to prove themselves before the big stage. However, England and Sri Lanka will not play warm-up matches because both the teams are playing T20 series against each other.
Complete schedule of T20 World Cup 2026 warm-up matches
2 February
Afghanistan vs Scotland – 3:00 pm
India A vs USA – 5:00 pm
Canada vs Italy – 7:00 pm
3 February
Sri Lanka A vs Oman – 1:00 pm
Netherlands vs Zimbabwe – 3:00 pm
Nepal vs USA – at 5:00
4 February
Namibia vs Scotland – 1:00 pm
Afghanistan vs West Indies – 3:00 pm
Ireland vs Pakistan – at 5:00
India vs South Africa – at 7:00
5 February
Oman vs Zimbabwe – 1:00 pm
canada vs nepal – 3:00 pm
Australia vs Netherlands – 5:00 pm
New Zealand vs USA – 7:00 pm
6 February
Italy vs UAE – 3:00 pm
India A vs Namibia – 5:00 pm
Where to watch live match
The warm-up matches will be telecast live on Star Sports Network. Live streaming will be available on Jio Hotstar app and website. Although not all the matches will be shown live, but there is a high possibility of all the matches of India being shown live.
