Defending champions India began their campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 with a resounding victory against the USA at a packed Wankhede Stadium. Tipped as outright favourites to win the competition, India have nearly every expert from JioStar, official broadcasters of the marquee tournament, expecting the hosts to reach at least the final of the tournament.
As many as 96 per cent of JioStar experts have backed India to go all the way and repeat and defeat history, including the likes of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 winners, Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla, former India Test captain and JioStar expert Anil Kumble and ex-cricketers R Vinay Kumar, Saba Karim and Yuzvendra Chahal, among others.
Each of the 46 JioStar experts had India as one of the two finalists, a trend the Men in Blue have followed in the last three men’s ICC events, including the Cricket World Cup 2023, T20 World Cup 2024, and the Champions Trophy 2025, going on to win the last two under former India captain Rohit Sharma.
More than one-third of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup experts predicted a repeat of the India-Australia final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, while 30 per cent could foresee a repeat of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final between India and South Africa.
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As far as the semi-final predictions were concerned from those who are part of JioStar’s presentation, India dominated those as well, including the ones from Sunil Gavaskar, Australia’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch, and renowned broadcaster Alan Wilkins, who also backed Afghanistan to make it to the last four. Apart from India, South Africa, Australia, England and New Zealand were popular choices to finish in the top four, with the occasional pick for Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Explaining his semi-final picks, former New Zealand bowler and commentator Danny Morrison said, “Co-host India in their own backyard, this blue juggernaut is hard to stop. I’m going to go with New Zealand because they just played in India, got some top firepower, plenty of players to pick and choose from- all powerhouses. Then England, and fourth South Africa, because of a lot of these players have played in the Indian Premier League and have got experience in those conditions.”
