The Indian cricket teams’ 2026 schedule promises yet another high-octane year, headlined by the men’s and women’s T20 World Cup tournaments and the Asian Games, alongside a full slate of bilateral series’ across formats.

Fresh off a successful 2025 that included triumphs at the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup, the Indian men’s cricket team will open the year with a white-ball home series against New Zealand in January, featuring five T20Is and three ODIs.

Attention will then quickly turn to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on home soil in February-March, where Suryakumar Yadav-led India will look to defend the title they lifted in 2024 under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. 

The last time India hosted a men’s T20 World Cup, West Indies clinched the title in 2016. India were beaten by the eventual champions in the semi-finals.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 will dominate India’s cricket calendar from March to May, with no international fixtures scheduled during the window. 

The Indian men’s cricket team will also play at least four red-ball matches as part of their ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, with two-Test away series’ each against Sri Lanka and New Zealand scheduled for the second half of the year.

The Women’s Premier League (WPL), meanwhile, is scheduled for January-February instead of February-March like last year.

The WPL will be followed by the Indian women’s cricket team’s all-format overseas tour of Australia before the focus shifts to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 in England and Wales in June-July.

Following the T20 World Cup, India and England will make history by featuring in the first-ever women’s Test match at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.

The venue has hosted several high-profile cricket matches, including World Cup finals. However, it will be the first time that Lord’s will host a women’s Test match.

Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams will also aim to defend their gold medals at the Asian Games 2026, set to be staged in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

The men’s and women’s Indian cricket teams will compete in multiple bilateral series at home and away, spanning across all three formats this year. 

Here’s a look at the schedule of the Indian cricket team in 2026.

Indian men’s cricket team schedule 2026