International Cricket

T20 WC 2026 Group B Day-by-Day Fixtures Broadcast Decoded

Rohan Bhatia 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~968 words

T20 WC 2026 Group B fixtures day-by-day decoded

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Group B at the T20 WC 2026 contains Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Scotland, with all 10 group fixtures hosted across the three Sri Lankan venues: R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Pallekele International in Kandy and the recently-accredited Sooriyawewa stadium in Hambantota. The five-team format runs across nine days from February 14 through February 23. Australia enters as the defending T20 WC champions, New Zealand as the dark horse, and Sri Lanka with home advantage. This decode walks through each Group B fixture day-by-day, the broadcast windows, the travel days between Colombo, Kandy and Hambantota, and how the squads are managing the compressed schedule.

Days 1-4, Group B opens

The group opens February 14 with Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong at R Premadasa Stadium, kick-off 19:00 SLST, the host's tournament-opener with Charith Asalanka leading the side. February 15: Australia vs New Zealand at Pallekele International, kick-off 19:00 SLST, the marquee trans-Tasman fixture in the day-night slot. February 16: Scotland vs Hong Kong at Sooriyawewa, kick-off 14:00 SLST in the day-game slot. February 17 is a Group B rest day, with the cricket calendar covering the India vs Pakistan fixture in Group A. February 18: Australia vs Sri Lanka at R Premadasa, kick-off 19:00 SLST in the marquee floodlit fixture, with Mitchell Marsh against Hasaranga as the central tactical match-up.

Days 5-8, mid-group fixtures

February 19 brings New Zealand vs Hong Kong at Pallekele International, kick-off 14:00 SLST. February 20: Sri Lanka vs Scotland at R Premadasa, kick-off 19:00 SLST. February 21 is the second tournament rest day across Group B, with most squads returning to Colombo from Kandy via the BIA-Pallekele air transit. February 22: Australia vs Hong Kong at Sooriyawewa, kick-off 14:00 SLST in the day-game slot. February 23 closes the mid-group block with New Zealand vs Sri Lanka at R Premadasa, kick-off 19:00 SLST, a contest that often decides the seeding routes through the Super Eight. Travel logistics use the BIA-Pallekele-Hambantota domestic rotation, with sides returning to Colombo as the central base between fixtures.

Final group day and Super Eight qualification

The final Group B day, February 24, has two fixtures: Australia vs Scotland at Pallekele International, kick-off 14:00 SLST, and New Zealand vs Scotland at Sooriyawewa, kick-off 19:00 SLST. The day decides the four Group B Super Eight qualifiers. With five sides in the group, only one is eliminated at the group stage. Scotland is the likely casualty, with Hong Kong having an outside chance if they pull a result against either Australia or New Zealand earlier in the block. The seeding maths is tight: Australia is locked in as group winner under most scenarios, but New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the fourth-seed slot are competing for the favourable Super Eight grouping. Net run-rate is expected to be a tie-breaker between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Broadcast routing and venue rotation

Broadcast routing covers Star Sports for India, Sony Sports for the wider South Asia market, Channel Nine for the Australia broadcast, Sky New Zealand for NZ, Maharaja TV for Sri Lanka, and the in-country state broadcaster for Hong Kong. ICC.tv handles the global pathway feed in 80-plus markets. The venue rotation is built around the ICC's pitch-rotation rules: R Premadasa uses six pitches across the tournament, with the central square reserved for the marquee fixtures. Curator Bandula Warnapura's pitch panel has confirmed harder, slower decks for the Australia and New Zealand fixtures. Pallekele's grass-cover policy leaves slightly more lateral movement, the Sooriyawewa wickets play high-scoring in the day games.

What it means

Group B is the cricket-quality group of T20 WC 2026, with three top-six T20I sides and two pathway-event qualifiers. The Australia vs New Zealand opener at Pallekele on February 15 is the early marker, the host vs Australia fixture at the Premadasa on February 18 is the marquee, and the final-day double-header on February 24 decides the Super Eight seeding. Watch how the squads handle the Colombo-Kandy-Hambantota travel rotation, the cumulative travel across nine days is the operational stress test that often decides which squad arrives at the Super Eight with fresh legs and which arrives short-handed.