The Indian cricket team, led by Suryakumar Yadav, will reportedly face South Africa in their lone warm-up fixture of the 2026 T20 World Cup that starts from February 7. The defending champions are in Group A alongside the Netherlands, Pakistan, the USA and Namibia.

According to a report in Cricbuzz, the ICC is expected to announce the full schedule for the World Cup warm-up matches on Monday. The delay has been caused by the controversy over Bangladesh’s refusal to travel to India for their group matches, citing security concerns.

The India-South Africa fixture will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on February 4.

With the logjam ending after ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland in Group C, the fixtures will be confirmed by tomorrow.

South Africa, the last edition’s runners-up, have been placed in Group D along with Afghanistan, New Zealand, Canada and UAE. They will start their campaign on February 9.

India is currently hosting New Zealand for a five-match T20I series, which will end on January 31. Once that concludes, the members of the World Cup squad will disperse before reassembling in Mumbai on February 3.

India will begin their title defence against the USA at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai before facing Namibia in Delhi (February 12) and then flying to Colombo to take on rivals Pakistan (February 15).

India will conclude their group-stage campaign against the Netherlands on February 18 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

No team has ever successfully defended a T20 World Cup, nor has a host won the competition. Indiahase a chance to change history besides becoming the first team to win more than three titles.

Besides India (2007, 2024), the West Indies (2012, 2016) and England (2010, 2022) are the only other teams to have won multiple men’s T20 World Cup titles.