JioStar, the official broadcast and digital partner for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India & Sri Lanka 2026, has raised the curtains on the biennial tournament
with a film that signals a paradigm shift.
In a first, reigning ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup champions Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma rally the nation in JioStar’s latest film, marking a distinctive shift in how the women’s game has grown in stature, with India’s women’s champions backing the men’s team in a role reversal.
The film opens to Jemimah Rodrigues recounting how a nation’s dream was realised on the night of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final, and then says it is time to reset as the men’s team goes at it all over again. The film dramatically bridges the gap between two ICC World Cups across formats and genders, as Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma also join in to tell everyone that India has got one cup home and won’t let the other one go. With a gripping background score and cinematography, the film depicts one set of World Champions cheering another.
ConceptualiSed by the JioStar Creative Team, the campaign weaves two seminal moments together between the national men’s and women’s teams to build excitement for India’s title defence of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at home – a feat no host nation has managed yet. India currently have the No.1 T20I bowler and batter in their ranks, and carry fearsome form as the top ranked T20I team in the world, aiming to become the first nation to lift the prestigious title thrice.
Speaking about the film, Siddharth Sharma, Head – Sports Content, JioStar said,
“As the Indian Men’s Cricket Team prepares to embark on a historic ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, striving to become the first ever back to back champions, it was apt for the reigning women’s World Champions to lead the charge in rallying support for the Men in Blue. This film was created to depict champions cheering champions-- for Team India to repeat history on the biggest stage of all and to energise a billion fans who are longing to see Team India lift the trophy once again at home.”
India will begin their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against USA in Mumbai on February 7, followed by a fixture against Namibia on February 12. India then takes on Pakistan in a much-anticipated clash on February 15, and caps off its group stage fixtures against the Netherlands on February 18.
Pakistan and the Netherlands will play the opening game of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 and fans can catch all the action live across JioHotstar and Star Sports Network from February 7 to March 8.
