T20 World Cup 2026: Harbhajan Singh predicts four semi-finalists, excludes two-time champions

Published - 31 Dec 2025, 15:46 IST | Updated - 31 Dec 2025, 15:58 IST

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has picked his four teams that are most likely to make it to the semi-finals of the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, starting February 7. Harbhajan has not included two-time winners England as one of the favourites to clinch their third title in the 2026 edition, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

The legendary spinner, while highlighting how India will be the best equipped to tackle with the conditions, mentioned how the Men in Blue going all the way or not will depend on how they will be able to handle the pressure of expectations. Australia and South Africa too. For the fourth choice, he went ahead with Afghanistan, while ignoring 2012 and 2016 champions — West Indies.

"I think India have a very good chance to win the [T20] World Cup because they are a very strong team and they are playing at home. They know the conditions better than anybody else. But the World Cup pressure is something which they need to handle better than the others, which is the most important thing," Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Gulf Today.

The Suryakumar Yadav-led side's T20I form was sublime in 2025. They ended up winning 16 out of 19 completed matches. They will be entering the T20 World Cup 2026 as defending champions, having won under legendary cricketer Rohit Sharma during the previous edition, which was played in the Americas and the Caribbean in 2024.

Australia will aim at winning their second T20 World Cup title after winning it for the first time in 2021. They finished as runners-up in 2010 and could not get past the semi-final stage in 2007 and 2012. As for South Africa, the 2024 instalment was the closest the Proteas got to tasting the prized silverware.

South Africa fell short by only seven runs in a closely-fought contest against India. Afghanistan, meanwhile, have not won the global tournament so far since making their debut in 2010. They had an impressive 2024 edition by beating the likes of New Zealand and Australia other than Uganda, Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh. They made it to the semi-finals for the first time, but lost to the Proteas eventually.