ICC T20 World Cup Betting Offers & Free Bets 2026: Sri Lanka and India

Twenty20 cricket was invented with the aim of welcoming a whole new audience along to watch the sport. The hope was that if it was would appeal because of its shortened format, with the England and Wales Cricket Board originally introducing it at the inter-county level. It proved to be a resounding success, with the first T20 match at Lord’s in 2004 seeing more than 27,000 people turn up to watch Middlesex take on Surrey. When Pakistan held the country’s first T20 tournament later in the year, 13 teams from all around the country took part.

The first men’s Twenty20 international took place in 2005 when Australia defeated New Zealand, though it would be untrue to say that it was played in a serious and competitive manner. The two teams played in retro kits, for example, and players wore ‘retro’ facial hair. Yet the idea of international T20 matches was given credence and the notion of a competition on a global scale soon began to take shape. The first Twenty20 World Cup was scheduled for 2007 and it has been held regularly ever since.

The 2020 T20 was due to be hosted by Australia but that was postponed to 2022.  India were then selected to host the postponed 7th edition in 2021 but due to the pandemic situation in the country it reverted to the back-up, The United Arab Emirates. The UAE tournament turned out to be a great success and Australia got to host the 8th version just one year later in 2022.

For 2024 the tournament expanded to now include 20 teams and was co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies.  The new format saw 55 matches played over 4 weeks, split into a group stage (4 groups of 5) and followed by the Super 8 stage (2 groups of 4) then the semi-finals and the final.

Reigning champions India will host for the second time in 2026 (also in 2016) along with Sri Lanka (also in 2012).  The new larger format means for the foreseeable future the tournament will be co-hosted.  In 2028 it is due to be hosted by Australia and New Zealand and in 2030 England, Ireland and Scotland will take over the duties.

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T20 World Cup Betting Offers

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2026 World Cup Match Schedule

T20 World Cup Final

Semi-Finals

England Fixtures

World Cup Format

The top 8 from the previous tournament qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup along with the hosts (in this case two hosts, the US and West Indies).  In this case the hosts were not in the top 8 in 2022 and so they take up two additional berths and this means two places are given to the next two highest teams in the T20 rankings.  If the hosts qualify in the top 8, however, up to 4 additional berths are given.

The remaining eight places are given to qualifiers as follows:

• African Qualifier – 2 places
• Americas Qualifier – 1 place
• Asia Qualifier – 2 places
• East Asia-Pacific Qualifier – 1 place
• Europe Qualifier – 2 places

The T20 World Cup Qualifiers takes place the winter before the tournament itself is due to get underway, with as many as 90 teams go head-to-head for 8 spaces in the finals across the 5 qualifying regions.

Obviously the number of teams making it through the qualification phase depends entirely on how many teams are taking part in the final tournament. It has ranged from 2 qualifiers in 2010 and 2012 through to 6 in 2014 and 2016 and 8 in 2024, for example. Ireland is the most successful nation when it comes to the T20 Qualifiers, having made it the finals through this method every time apart from 2021.

The actual Twenty20 World Cup is split into two phases, with the first part being the Group Stage and the second being the Super 8s. It was the Super 10s and then the Super 12s before the competition’s expansion. Let’s look at the 2024 version of the competition as a specific example of how it works.

Group Stage

The top 8 teams from 2022, plus the hosts and 2-4 of the next best ranked teams go into the group stages (12 teams total). They are joined there by 8 other teams that qualified courtesy of the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers.

The Group Stage teams are split into 4 groups, with 5 teams in each group.  Teams play in a round-robin, 4 matches each, 10 matches per group, 40 games total. The top 2 teams in each group then qualify for the Super 8s part of the tournament. The ranking in the groups at both stages of the competition is decided according to the order of the following:

• Highest number of points won
• Highest number of wins
• Highest Net Run Rate (NRR)
• Lowest Bowling Strike Rate (BSR)
• Result in head-to-head meeting

Since 2009 ties at the end of the two 20 over innings are decided by a Super Over. If the result is still tied at the end of the Super Over then it comes to which team has scored the most 6s.

Super 8s

Once the makeup of the final 8 teams has been decided, they are once again broken up into 2 groups of 4 teams. Each team then plays in a round-robin again, 3 matches per team, 6 matches per group, 12 games total.

The top two teams in each group then progress to the semi-final stage and the two winners of them play each other in the final.

For the 2024 version of the tournament, the final was held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Deciding The Host

Nations can express an interest in hosting the Twenty20 World Cup, submitting bits to the International Cricket Council’s Executive Committee for consideration. They then look at the bids and decide which one is the most fitting for the tournament.

The hosts of the tournament at the time of writing have been the following:

• 2007: South Africa
• 2009: England
• 2010: West Indies
• 2012: Sri Lanka
• 2014: Bangladesh
• 2016: India
• 2021: India
• 2022: Australia
• 2024: United States & West Indies
• 2026: India & Sri Lanka
• 2028: Australia & New Zealand
• 2030: UK & Ireland

Tim Anderson, the Head Of Global Development for the ICC at the time, suggested in 2015 that a future tournament should be hosted by the United States of America. Cricket remains a relatively unknown sport in the country, with the likes of baseball for more ingrained in to the American psyche.

Anderson believed that the exciting nature of Twenty20 cricket would make it a more appealing form of the game to Americans, with many of the aspects of the game taking from other American sports. It’s not uncommon for the likes of t-shirt cannons to be used, for example, as well as fireworks and music to be set off during T20 matches in order to keep the crowds engaged.

Since the tournament was enlarged in 2024 it has been co-hosted since due to the increased number of matches and additional resources required.

Results To Date

At the time of writing, there have been nine ICC Twenty20 World Cups. Nine nations have taken part in all six of them, namely:

• West Indies
• Sri Lanka
• India
• Pakistan
• England
• Australia
• South Africa
• New Zealand
• Bangladesh

Of those nine, six of them have actually won the tournament. The West Indies, India and England are the only ones to have done so twice, with WI being victorious in 2012 and 2016, England in 2010 and 2022, Sri Lanka winning it in 2014, India doing so in 2007 and 2024, Pakistan in 2009 and Australia in 2021. Bangladesh is the only country not to have made it out of the group in the Super 8/10/12 stage

Fifteen other countries have taken part in World T20 tournaments, with Ireland the most successful courtesy of their appearance in seven of the eight tournaments. Canada, Uganda and Kenya are the ‘least’ successful, having only appeared in one tournament each to date.

Prize Money

The amount of prize money available for the World Twenty20 seems to increase every year. As an example, the pool in 2016 was 33% bigger than it had been two years earlier.

In order to give you a more specific idea of what’s available for the teams that do well, let’s take a look at the prize breakdown for the 2024 version of the tournament:

There was a total prize pool of $11.25 million, up from $5.6 million in 2022. It was distributed to teams according to how well they did in the competition, with the following being the payouts:

• Bonus For Victory In All First Round Matches: $31,154 per match
• Bonus For Victory In All Super 8 Matches: $31,154 per match
• Teams Ranked 13-20 – $225,000
• Teams Ranked 12-9 – $247,500
• Teams Ranked 8-5 – $382,500
• Semi-Final Losers: $787,500 per team
• Runner-Up: $1,280,00
• Winner: $2,450,000

As you can see, it earned a country double the amount if they were able to make it to the final compared to just reaching the semi-finals, with double that again available for the overall winner.

Venues United States & West Indies 2024

* Final Venue, # Semi-Final Venues, ~ Modular stadium to be built especially for the 2024 World Cup

Statistics & Facts

Previous Winners

Most Successful Teams

The table above displays teams that have competed in all 9 World Cup tournaments to date and is current up to the end of the 2024 World Cup

* Ties include tied matches won with a super over or bowl outs, these are counted as half a win. NR – No Result

Records

Data current up to the 2016 World Cup

History Of The ICC T20 World Cup

Between 1972 and 2002 the Benson & Hedges Cup was held, offering first-class country cricket clubs the chance to play one day matches. When it came to an end the England and Wales Cricket Board wanted to offer another one day tournament. They also saw it as an opportunity to revitalise the sport of cricket, which had been losing sponsors and seeing its crowds dwindle over the previous few years.

The idea was to try to inspire younger people to start enjoying cricket, so the ECB wanted a form of the sport that would offer fast-paced cricket that non-cricket fans would find exciting. That was when the Marketing Manager of the ECB, Stuart Robertson, suggested a format of 20 overs per innings. The county chairmen voted on it and the motion passed by 11-7 in 2001. It came into being two years later courtesy of the Twenty20 Cup, which was rebranded as the T20 Blast in 2004.

The First T20 World Cup

After the new format had gained popularity in various countries around the world, most notably in Pakistan and the West Indies, it seemed inevitable that a tournament for international teams would soon spring up. It was decided that the International Cricket Council would be responsible for the new competition, which would be a World Cup of cricket’s new shortened format. It would take place every two years, unless it was a Cricket World Cup year, in which case it would take place the year before.

South Africa hosted the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, when it was known as the ICC World Twenty20. It lasted for 13 days and 12 teams took part, with the ten Test nations joined by Scotland and Kenya who had won the 2007 World Cricket League Division One tournament. India and Pakistan made it to the final and the former nation won by five runs. It was the format overall that was seen as the real winner, however, with footage broadcast live to fourteen nations.

Qualification Is Introduced & The Tournament Hits Its Stride

In December of 2007 it was decided that it would be fair to introduced a 20 over-based qualification tournament for the next World Cup, largely to give teams the chance to better prepare for the competition itself. Six teams were to take part in it and two of them would move forward to the 2021 World Twenty20, being rewarded with $250,000 in prize money.

England played host to the second World Twenty20, where Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final. There was a Cricket World Cup scheduled for 2011, so the third World Twenty20 took place in May of 2010, with England beating Australia by 7 wickets in the final. The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 once again saw Sri Lanka in the final and once more they were on the losing side, this time as hosts and missing out to the West Indies.

The Tournament Expands

The intention had been to see the 2012 version of the World Twenty20 involve an expansion to 16 teams, but in the end it remained as one for 12 nations. The first version of the competition that was opened to 16 nations was the 2014 one, which took place in Bangladesh. The 10 Test nations were given automatic places, whilst the other 6 were given to associate members who made it through the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers.

When the tournament proper got underway the top eight full members according to the ICC T20 Championship Rankings were given a bye to the Super 10 stage. The other eight teams took part in a group stage, from which the top two teams were advanced to compete the Super 10 listing. The expanded nature of the competition meant that new teams could be part of it for the first time, seeing debuts for the United Arab Emirates, Nepal and Hong Kong.

For the delayed 2020 event, held in 2021, and the 2022 edition the tournament stuck with 16 teams but this time the main knockout phase was expanded to a Super 12 with two groups of 6.

From 2024 onwards the tournament expanded again to include 20 teams.  Now teams are divided into four groups of 5 teams with the top 2 in each group going through to the Super Eights.  The Super Eights itself is divided into two groups of four with the top two from each group going through to the semi-finals.

Interesting Trivia

As you can imagine, there are still plenty of interesting facts to be created for a competition that only began life in 2007. Even so, there are still more than a few things that we can tell you about the T20 World Cup, with the following being the most interesting:

• Sri Lanka’s 172 run win over Kenya in 2007 is the biggest margin of victory by runs to date
• England’s 10 wicket win over India in 2022 is the greatest margin of victory by wickets, 4 other teams share the accolade.
• Virat Kohli racked up 1,292 runs for India between 2012 and 2024, the largest run haul in the competition
• Brendon McCullum lays claim to the largest individual haul of runs in a single game, scoring 123 when Australia player Bangladesh in 2012
• Nine players have scored a century to date, but Chris Gayle is the only cricketer to manage two during a T20 World Cup
• One of Gayle’s centuries came against England and was the fastest to date, needing just 47 balls to deliver it
• MS Dhoni has the most dismissals, managing 32
• David Warner has both the most catches as a fielder with 25
• The most dismissals for a wicketkeeper in one tournament was Rishabh Pant, managing to take 14 in 2024