International Cricket

T20 WC 2026 Warm-Up Fixtures Day-by-Day India-Sri Lanka Decoded

Rohan Bhatia 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~969 words

T20 WC 2026 warm-up fixtures day-by-day decoded

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The ICC has released the T20 WC 2026 warm-up schedule, with 20 fixtures spread across nine days between February 2-10, 2026, ahead of the main tournament opening on February 14. The warm-ups are split between four venues, M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the BCCI's newly accredited Greater Noida Stadium, the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and the Pallekele International in Kandy. The 20 sides participating in the tournament each play two warm-up fixtures, with squad rest plans built around 14 of those 20 captains opting for a one-game rest. Here is the day-by-day decode, venue rotation, broadcast routing and how each squad is approaching its warm-up block.

Days 1-3, Bengaluru and Greater Noida open

The warm-ups open February 2 with three fixtures at M Chinnaswamy and Greater Noida. India vs Sri Lanka (Bengaluru, 14:00), Australia vs Pakistan (Greater Noida, 19:00), and South Africa vs England (Bengaluru, 19:00). February 3 brings West Indies vs Ireland (Bengaluru, 14:00), New Zealand vs Bangladesh (Greater Noida, 14:00), Afghanistan vs Netherlands (Greater Noida, 19:00). February 4 closes the opening block with India vs Australia (Bengaluru, 19:00), Pakistan vs South Africa (Greater Noida, 14:00) and Sri Lanka vs New Zealand (Bengaluru, 14:00). Captains Rohit Sharma, Pat Cummins and Babar Azam are all rested for at least one of those fixtures, with the squad vice-captains taking the toss and the press conference duties.

Days 4-6, Colombo and Kandy block

The Sri Lanka leg opens February 5 at R Premadasa with Bangladesh vs Italy (14:00) and Hong Kong vs Nepal (19:00). February 6 brings Zimbabwe vs Scotland (Pallekele, 14:00), Canada vs PNG (Premadasa, 19:00) and the marquee India vs Pakistan warm-up at the Premadasa (19:00) under floodlights. February 7 sees Afghanistan vs West Indies (Pallekele, 14:00), England vs Ireland (Premadasa, 19:00) and the second India vs Pakistan warm-up rescheduled for February 7 evening to fit the second-game-each-team format. Both India and Pakistan use full-strength selections for the high-profile fixtures, with the rest plans rotated through the Bengaluru leg.

Days 7-9, finale and pre-tournament rest

The final warm-up block runs February 8-10 across all four venues. February 8: Australia vs South Africa (Bengaluru, 14:00), Sri Lanka vs England (Premadasa, 19:00), Netherlands vs Scotland (Pallekele, 14:00). February 9: New Zealand vs Afghanistan (Greater Noida, 14:00), Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe (Premadasa, 14:00), West Indies vs Canada (Bengaluru, 19:00). February 10 closes with India vs South Africa (Bengaluru, 19:00), Pakistan vs New Zealand (Greater Noida, 14:00), Hong Kong vs PNG (Premadasa, 14:00) and Italy vs Nepal (Pallekele, 19:00). The four-day gap to the opening day of the tournament is the longest pre-WC rest window in T20 WC history, designed specifically to ease squad workload after the warm-ups and pre-tournament travel.

Squad rest plans and broadcast

Every full-member squad has confirmed a rest plan that uses one of the two warm-ups for a designated rest fixture. India is resting Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya across the first warm-up. Australia is resting Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. England is resting Mark Wood and Ben Stokes. Pakistan is resting Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. The associate sides are using both warm-ups for full-strength selections, the pathway sides typically have less depth and need both fixtures for live game-time prep. Broadcast routing is the ICC.tv warm-up feed across 80-plus markets, with the India and India-Pakistan fixtures picked up by Star Sports on full broadcast. ESPNcricinfo handles the global ball-by-ball commentary feed.

What it means

The T20 WC 2026 warm-up block is the most structured the ICC has ever produced, with 20 fixtures rotated across four venues and a deliberate squad-rest framework built into every team's allocation. The four-day gap between the last warm-up and the tournament opener is designed to address player welfare concerns raised after the 2024 WC compressed schedule. Watch the India-Pakistan warm-up at Premadasa on February 6, that fixture is the single most-watched warm-up in tournament history, and the squad-strength selections will tell you which of the two sides is locking in a tournament XI early and which is still rotating.