South Africa betrayed as Michael Vaughan names T20 World Cup 2026 semifinalists

The former captain of the England cricket team, Michael Vaughan, has predicted four teams for the semi-final stage during the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to begin on February 07. Notably, Vaughan has left out the South Africa side, who reached the finals in the previous edition of the event and ended as the runners-up, losing to India.

Sharing his prediction on X (formerly known as Twitter) on February 02, Michael Vaughan wrote, “My 4 T20 World Cup semifinalists will be- India, England, New Zealand, & Australia.” The 20-team competition will follow the same format used in the last season and will feature nine of the top 10-ranked T20I teams.

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Bangladesh, however, will not be part of the competition after the ICC decided to replace them with Scotland. The issue began after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to ban the left-arm pacer, Mustafizur Rahman, from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, while Bangladesh decided to boycott the event due to their refusal to travel to India for security reasons.

Michael Vaughan picks semifinalists for T20 World Cup 2026

The group stage will have four groups of five teams each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each of these four groups will move into the Super 8 stage. Based on the ICC seedings, the eight qualified teams will be divided into the Super 8 groups.

India will begin their campaign against United States of America (USA) on February 07 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, while England, after preparing for the Sri Lanka home T20I series, will start the tournament against Nepal on February 08 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Meanwhile, Australia, after a 3-0 series defeat in Pakistan, will land in Sri Lanka and lock horns with Ireland at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on February 11. On the other hand, New Zealand will face Afghanistan in their opening clash against Afghanistan on February 08 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.