Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made a bold statement recently claiming that no one will watch the upcoming WT20 competition which will be held between February 7 and March 8 in India and Sri
Lanka. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said that early matches feature India against associate nations (USA, Namibia and Netherlands) and claimed that such matches can end up pulling away people’s interest from the competition. He even spoke about the massive number of ICC events taking place one after another and made a comparison with tournaments. This will be the fifth T20 World Cup in the last six years.
“World Cups used to happen once every four years. As a result, the interest is used to build. India used to play England or Sri Lanka in the first round, and that was a lot more fun,” he continued. While the ODI World Cup remains in its traditional four-year cycle, and the Champions Trophy does as well, the T20 World Cup is on a rotating two-year schedule.
“Back in 1996, 1999 and 2003, when I was in school, the World Cup came once every four years. We collected World Cup cards, printed schedules and waited for it. That anticipation used to build naturally,” said Ravi Ashwin, comparing to his younger days when T20 as a format hadn’t even reached the international stage.
🚨 NO ONE WILL WATCH THE T20 WORLD CUP 2026 🚨 Ravichandran Ashwin Said : “No one is going to watch the ICC T20 World Cup this time. Matches like India vs USA and India vs Namibia literally pull you away from the T20 World Cup. Back in 1996, 1999, and 2003, when I was in… pic.twitter.com/HDfBjd8u33
— Mahi Patel (@Mahi_Patel_07) January 2, 2026
A few weeks back, Ravichandran Ashwin also told that he is not sure about the future of One Day Format. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former off-spinner said “I am not sure about the future of ODI after the 2027 World Cup. I am a little worried about it. Of course, I am following the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but the manner in which I followed the SMAT, I am finding it slightly difficult to follow,”
India are the defending champions of WT20 having won the tournament in 2024 under Rohit Sharma. They will be playing the 2026 WT20 at home and the expectations are big from the Suryakumar Yadav led team India as they aim to be the first team to win back to back WT20 titles.
![[WATCH] World Cup-winning captains Rohit Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepika TC honoured at star-studded event](https://g-mob.glance-cdn.com/public/fc/image/c2T7EeApOe10.webp)
