ICC's googly stumps fans. Tickets for semi-final, final go live, but where is the match?
India Today
The T20 World Cup semi-final and finals tickets have gone live on sale. Tickets are available for Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Colombo, without even knowing at which exact venue the matches will be played?
The International Cricket Council has started selling tickets for the semi-finals and final of the T20 World Cup 2026. But remarkably, it does not yet have clarity on where the last three fixtures — two semi-finals and the final — will actually be played.
Due to India’s ongoing geopolitical tensions with Pakistan, the two countries are co-hosting the tournament- India and Sri Lanka. As per the originally agreed plan, the semi-final venues were to be Kolkata and Mumbai in India. However, Colombo was also kept in readiness in case Pakistan qualified for the knockout stage.
Under the hybrid arrangement agreed between India and Pakistan for ICC tournaments, the Pakistani team will play all its matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. That means any knockout fixture involving Pakistan would automatically be shifted to Colombo.
If Pakistan do not reach the final four, the matches will be held entirely in India — specifically in Kolkata and Mumbai, as per the original allocation.
An additional complication emerged on Tuesday when the ICC clarified that if co-hosts Sri Lanka reach the semi-final, they too will play their match in Colombo — unless they are drawn against India. In that specific scenario, the match would instead be held in Kolkata.
The ICC announced the sale of tickets via a press release on Tuesday, February 24, stating that sales would go live at 7 PM IST. However, confusion surrounds the booking process because neither the ICC nor the fans know which four teams will qualify for the semi-finals — a factor that directly impacts venue allocation. T20 World Cup: The fans are expected to make travel plans without knowing venues. (PTI Photo)
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