Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Set for Historic Start as India Eye Glory Under Harmanpreet

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 begins on June 12 in England with a record 12 teams. Harmanpreet Kaur's India start against Pakistan, while over 200,000 tickets have already been sold.

ICC Womens T20 World Cup Preview (Image Source: Google)

The ECB selected London’s Waterloo Bridge for an event to announce the arrival of the Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil and transformed it into a cricket pitch for the day on Sunday, 7th June. The skippers of the 12 competing nations took part in the event and shoot out and Nat Sciver-Brunt, the England captain, hoped to inspire a fresh generation of future stars. She voiced her hopes of establishing a new legacy.

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London and offers the sight of St Paul’s and the City to the east, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament to the west. The existing bridge was built by women during the Second World War (1939–1945), inspiring various songs and stories about London.

India’s first Women’s World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet was most in demand among the fans for the selfie requests on the iconic Waterloo Bridge and was more than just a crowd favourite.

The Women’s T20 World Cup gets under way on 12th June evening when hosts England meet in a Group 2 clash against Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. The event will be staged at venues in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Southampton.

Six-time winners Australia are once again among the favourites to lift the title, which was won by New Zealand in Dubai two years ago. India, under one of the most experienced and celebrated captains Harmanpreet Kaur, opens its campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday, June 14 at Edgbaston at 7:00 p.m. IST.

Termed as the biggest ever Women's T20 World Cup, it features a record 12 teams, including the Netherlands and Scotland, the two Associate representatives. Over 200,000 tickets have already been sold, with sales having surpassed any previous edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The tournament should break records and set a new benchmark for women's sport. The urge is to seize the moment of England and Wales hosting the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and make 2026 the biggest ever year for women’s cricket.

The ICC is hopeful that even the direct clash with the FIFA World Cup 2026 will not diminish the reach and popularity of the 2026 Women's T20 World Cup.

2026 Women's T20 World Cup: June 12 to July 5

2026 FIFA World Cup: June 11 to July 19

This time, a total of 12 teams, meaning two more than the 10 teams that played in 2024, were selected as follows:

One host: England

Top five teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup: Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.

From the rest, the top two teams in the ICC T20 International rankings: Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Four teams from the Qualifier Series: Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland

Some other key points about the teams:

*The Netherlands is competing in the Women's T20 World Cup for the first time.

*Competing in this T20 World Cup is a major achievement for Bangladesh, as they will play a women's international match in England for the first time. They qualified after a perfect qualifying campaign, winning all nine of their matches.

* This tournament is historic for European countries, as four of the 12 teams are European (England, Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands). Four teams from Asia are also participating (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Pakistan).

* For the first time, England and Scotland will face each other in England in either the men's or women's World Cup.

* New Zealand are the defending champions, having won the 2024 edition.

*Four teams are led by Mumbai Indians: India (Harmanpreet Kaur), England (Nat Sciver-Brunt), West Indies (Hayley Matthews), New Zealand (Amelia Kerr)

The 12 teams are divided into two groups of six each, facing each other in a round-robin format during the group stage. The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage. Two semi-finals will be played on June 30th and July 2nd, and the final will be played at Lord's on July 5th. Reserve days have been set aside for both the semi-finals and final.

Group A: Australia, Bangladesh, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa

Group B: England, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, Sri Lanka, West Indies

Prize Money

The ICC has announced a record prize fund of $8,764,615 for the tournament, a 10% increase from the 2024 edition, which was a total of $7,958,077. Look at who will receive what:

The champion team will receive $2.34 million,

The runner-up will receive $1.17 million,

Each losing semi-finalist will receive $6.75 million,

The team that wins each group match will receive $31,154.

It's also confirmed that all 12 participating teams will receive $247,500, meaning none of the teams will return empty-handed.

Players who played in the inaugural women's T20 World Cup & are playing in this edition too: Ellyse Perry, Marizanne Kapp, Chamari Atapattu, Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor, Harmanpreet Kaur Dane van Niekerk Shabnim Ismail

Players to play in all 10 editions of the women's T20 World Cup: Ellyse Perry, Suzie Bates, Chamari Atapattu, Sophie Devine, Stafanie Taylor, Harmanpreet Kaur.