The T20 World Cup 2026 will feature 20 teams, divided into four groups of five. Each team will play against the others in their group, with the top two from each group advancing to the Super Eight stage. The Super Eight will be split into two groups, and the top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages.

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup is a biennial world cup for cricket in Twenty20 International (T20I) format, organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament, now being held every two years, was first played in 2007 in South Africa.India T20 World Cup team are the defending champions, having defeated South Africa in the final of the previous edition.

Due to strained political relations, matches between India and Pakistan at ICC events hosted by either country will be played at neutral venues until at least 2027. Consequently, any India-Pakistan matches during the T20 World Cup 2026 will be held in Sri Lanka.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have agreed that matches between India and Pakistan at ICC events hosted by either country will be played at neutral venues until at least 2027. ​

The team has won five major ICC tournaments, winning the Cricket World Cup twice, the ICC T20 World Cup once (2007) and the ICC Champions Trophy twice (2002 and 2013). They have also finished runners-up twice in the World Cup (2003 and 2023), once in the T20 World Cup (2014), won the Champions Trophy twice (2000 and 2017) and in the ICC World Test Championship final in the first two issues (2021, 2023). They were the second team after the West Indies to win the World Cup and the first team to win the World Cup on home soil since winning the 2011 Cricket World Cup.