Before the T20 World Cup 2026, Cricket West Indies has suffered a big blow from one of its players. Star player Nicholas Pooran surprised everyone by retiring from international cricket at a young age last year. The board wants their strong player to take back his retirement and play T20 World Cup for them, but he has rejected this demand.

Cricket West Indies’ Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe has admitted that Nicholas Pooran was contacted. The board wanted the T20 World Cup to be held in 2026 with a strong team. Miles said, “We made every effort to ensure that the best players represent the West Indies team in the tournament. We also discussed the possibility of a comeback, but Nicholas stuck to his decision.” He also told that Puran had retired keeping the T20 World Cup 2026 in mind.

West Indies will miss Nicholas Pooran

Puran is considered one of the most lethal batsmen of T20, who is adept in delivering big hits as soon as he arrives. His fielding is also excellent. He has also impressed as a wicketkeeper. Overall a complete package, but he retired at a young age. The international cricket journey of many players has started around the age of 30, one of them is Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav. But Puran said goodbye to international cricket at the age of 29.

T20 World Cup will be played in India and Sri Lanka, West Indies cricket team is included in Group C. All the matches of this group will be played in India. Puran has played and is playing a lot of cricket in the Indian Premier League, he knows the pitches here very well but he will not be able to give its advantage to his national team.

Nicholas Puran plays in league cricket

Puran, who has retired from international cricket, plays in T20 leagues around the world. Seeing his form, Cricket West Indies wanted to bring him back into the team, but he did not listen to the board and gave his answer to the board. When the board also discussed the possibility of a comeback, Puran told them that he had retired keeping the T20 World Cup in mind, so there is no question of a comeback.

West Indies Cricket has not yet announced its squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. It is likely that the team will finalize its plans after the T20 series against Afghanistan.

Former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin is worried about the future of ODI cricket. While talking about this, he said that people started watching Vijay Hazare Trophy matches also when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made a comeback in it, so when these legends retire after the 2027 World Cup, its popularity will reduce rapidly. However, Ashwin also suggested how the popularity of ODI cricket can be maintained and how this format can be kept alive.

Ravichandran Ashwin while talking on his YouTube channel said, “Nothing can be said for sure about the ODI format after the ODI World Cup to be held in 2027. I am worried about it. I am following the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but the way I followed the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, it is a bit difficult to follow. There is a need to know what the audience wants. I think there is still room for Test cricket, but I “Looks like there’s no room for ODIs.”

What will happen to ODI after the retirement of Kohli and Rohit?

Ashwin further said, “People saw it when Rohit and Virat came back in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. I always say that the game is bigger than the cricketer, but sometimes these players have to come back to make the game relevant. What will happen when they retire?”

Ashwin further said, “At one time ODI was a great format. It gave players like MS Dhoni who used to take singles for 10-15 overs and then bat stormy in the end. Now you do not have players like Dhoni and there is no need to play like that because now the match is played with 2 balls and there is also a rule of five fielders inside the circle.”

‘ODI series closed, only World Cup should happen’

However, Ashwin not only talked about the concerns but also gave his opinion on how to make ODI cricket important. According to him, ICC should learn from FIFA, ODI series should be stopped and ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy should be organized in just 4 years. Ashwin said, “There are so many leagues in football, but FIFA organizes the World Cup every four years. The World Cup has value.”

Ashwin said, “If you really want to make the ODI format necessary, then the World Cup should be held every four years but there should not be an ODI series, instead a T20 series should be played. With this, the board will also select those players who are doing well in domestic cricket.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the schedule of the 2026 Under-19 World Cup. This World Cup will be played between 15 January and 6 February 2026, hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia. A total of 41 matches will be played between 16 teams in the tournament. ICC has not scheduled the match between India and Pakistan in the league stage.

ICC has divided 16 teams into groups of 4-4. India and Pakistan have been kept in different groups. Because of this, both the teams will not clash with each other in the league stage. Often in ICC competitions, matches between India and Pakistan are held in the league stage. This increases the excitement of the tournament, but this time ICC has ended the excitement of the clash in the league stage by not placing India and Pakistan in one group.

India and Pakistan have been kept in different groups

A total of three matches including the final were played between India and Pakistan in the 2025 Asia Cup. There was no handshake between the captains and players of both the countries during these matches. It is clear from this that the situation is not normal even on the cricket field between the two countries. Therefore, to avoid any such unusual situation, ICC has placed both the teams in different groups in the Under-19 World Cup.

ICC made 4 groups for the World Cup

India, Bangladesh, America and New Zealand in Group A
Zimbabwe, Pakistan, England and Scotland in Group B
Australia, Ireland, Japan and Sri Lanka in Group C
Tanzania, West Indies, Afghanistan and South Africa in Group D

Know the schedule of Team India, all the venues of the tournament

In the league stage, India will play against America on 15 January, Bangladesh on 17 January and New Zealand on 24 January. Five venues have been selected for the World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia. The matches will be played at Harare Sports Club, Takashinga Sports Club, and Queens Sports Club in Zimbabwe. Whereas in Namibia, it will be played at Namibia Cricket Ground and HP Oval in Namibia.

ICC has released the full schedule of Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2026. The first match will be held between the Indian Under-19 team and the USA Under-19 team on January 15. Let us tell you that there has been no change in the format of the tournament. The 16 teams playing in the tournament have been divided into groups of 4-4. The final match of the World Cup will be played on 6 February at Harare Sports Club.

16 teams playing in Under-19 World Cup 2026 (group wise)

• Group A- India, Bangladesh, USA and New Zealand.
• Group B- Zimbabwe, Pakistan, England and Scotland.
• Group C- Australia, Ireland, Japan and Sri Lanka.
• Group D- Tanzania, West Indies, Afghanistan and South Africa.

ICC Men’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup Schedule

• January 15, USA vs India, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 15 January, Zimbabwe v Scotland, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• January 15, Tanzania vs West Indies, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 16 January, Pakistan vs England, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• 16 January, Australia v Ireland, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 16 January, Afghanistan v South Africa, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 17 January, India vs Bangladesh, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• January 17, Japan vs Sri Lanka, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 18 January, New Zealand vs USA, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 18 January, England v Zimbabwe, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• January 18, West Indies vs Afghanistan, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 19 January, Pakistan vs Scotland, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• January 19, Sri Lanka vs Ireland, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• January 19, South Africa vs Tanzania, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 20 January, Bangladesh vs New Zealand, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 20 January, Australia vs Japan, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 21 January, England v Scotland, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• January 21, Afghanistan vs Tanzania, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 22 January, Zimbabwe v Pakistan, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• 22 January, Ireland v Japan, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• January 22, West Indies v South Africa, HP Oval, Windhoek
• January 23, Bangladesh vs USA, Takashinga Sports Club, Harare
• 23 January, Sri Lanka vs Australia, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 24 January, India vs New Zealand, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 24 January, A4 vs D4, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 25 January, Super Sixes A1 vs D3, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 25 January, Super Sixes D2 vs A3, HP Oval, Windhoek
• 26 January, B4 vs C4, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 26 January, Super Six C1 vs B2, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 26 January, Super Six D1 vs A2, Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek
• 27 January, Super Six C2 vs B3, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 27 January, Super Six C3 vs B1, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 28 January, Super Sixes A1 vs D2, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 29 January, Super Six D3 vs A2, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 30 January, Super Six D1 vs A3, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 30 January, Super Six B3 vs C1, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 31 January, Super Six B2 vs C3, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 01 February, Super Six B1 vs C2, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 03 February, 1st Semi-Final, Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
• 04 February, Second Semi-Final, Harare Sports Club, Harare
• 06 February, Final, Harare Sports Club, Harare.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has included Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai in the list of venues for next year’s T20 World Cup. The final will be played in Ahmedabad.

The final of the ODI World Cup 2023 between India and Australia was also played in Ahmedabad which is the largest cricket stadium in the world with a capacity of more than one lakh spectators. World Cup 2023 was played at 10 venues in India.

Bengaluru does not figure in the list of finalized venues as it was dropped from the Women’s ODI World Cup list after the Karnataka State Cricket Association failed to get the necessary clearance following the stampede at Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) IPL victory celebration in June.

11 people lost their lives in this incident at Chinnaswamy Stadium and since then no international match has been held there.

It has been learned that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will announce the full schedule of this competition to be held in February-March next week. The tournament is likely to start on February 7 while the final may be held on March 8.

Sri Lanka will be the co-host of the T20 World Cup which will be a neutral venue for Pakistan as per the arrangement with India. In Sri Lanka, matches will be organized at three venues including Kandy and Colombo.

India will enter the World Cup to be held at home as the defending champion. The team won the last T20 World Cup title in Barbados in June last year.

If Pakistan reaches the final then the title match will be held in Sri Lanka. Under the agreement between ICC, BCCI and PCB, all matches between India and Pakistan will be played at neutral venues till 2027.

India and Sri Lanka together recently hosted the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025, the trophy of which was won by India. Now India and Sri Lanka are also going to host the 2026 T20 World Cup together. Next year the World Cup will be played from 7 February to 8 March. The Times of India report has revealed that ICC has selected 5 grounds in India and 2-3 in Sri Lanka for organizing the World Cup matches.

Next year, T20 World Cup matches can be played in Visakhapatnam, Indore, Guwahati, while Pakistan team can play all its matches in Colombo. It is being told that not a single match of the World Cup will be played in Bengaluru. It was even claimed that Bengaluru is finding it difficult to host any match in IPL also.

Some sources quoted by Times of India say that the semi-final match will be played in Sri Lanka only if one or both of Pakistan and Sri Lanka reach the semi-finals. Even if Pakistan team goes to the final, the final will be played in Colombo only.

India last hosted an ICC event in men’s cricket in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Its matches were played in Dharamshala, Lucknow, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. There has been no confirmation yet regarding the venue of the matches, but it is being said that this topic was discussed in the recent meeting of ICC.

20 teams will play in the World Cup

Like the 2024 T20 World Cup, a total of 20 teams will participate in the 2026 World Cup. The names of all 20 teams have been revealed. They will be divided into four groups of five teams each. After that there will be a Super-8 stage, in which the top-2 teams of each group will qualify. The teams finishing in the first four places in Super-8 will reach the semi-finals.

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ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025: ICC Women’s World Cup is going to be organized in India. The first match of this tournament will be played between India and Sri Lanka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. All the matches will start at 3 pm except for only one match in the World Cup. For this World Cup, the team from Australia to Pakistan is also coming to India. The team of Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur is preparing to win this World Cup in front of their countrymen.

These 3 players will be monitored in Indian team

In the ICC ODI World Cup, Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur will be eyeing everyone. Kaur herself, while referring to this, said that she is expecting herself a lot from herself as a captain. Kaur said that fans will also be expecting us very much that we will play good cricket. This will help us, so that we can play better cricket. At the same time, opening batsman Smriti Mandhana and star player Jemima Rodrigue will also be responsible for India’s victory.

• Captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been a great performance in ODIs so far. Kaur has scored 4,069 runs in 149 matches at an average of 37.67. Kaur’s best score in ODI is 171 runs. To win this World Cup, Harmanpreet Kaur will have to show power in batting along with captaincy.
• Smriti Mandhana has great figures in ODIs. Mandhana has played 105 matches so far, scoring 4,588 runs at an average of 46.34. Mandhana scored 136 runs in ODI. Mandhana will have to bat in the World Cup keeping this form intact.
• Jemima Rodriguez is known for scoring fast runs in the middle order. Jemima has so far scored 1,439 runs in 50 ODIs at an average of 32.70. This player has also taken five wickets in ODIs.

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