T20 World Cup 2026: Eoin Morgan names favourites to win the tournament, ignores two-time champions

Former England captain Eoin Morgan feels India are the team to beat in the upcoming 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played across February and March. The Men in Blue will enter the biennial tournament as defending champions, which they are also going to play at home.

Morgan pointed to the team having to play in familiar home conditions as one of the factors behind calling the Indian team the favourites to win the upcoming twenty-team tournament. He also highlighted that the Suryakumar Yadav-led

unit has a balanced squad and players of high calibre, covering all three departments.

“I think the out and out favorites by a country mile are India. Home conditions, won’t have to play a game outside India if they go all the way. When you think of T20 and how unpredictable it can be, you want to box off going into a tournament the uncertainty of what might occur. That means top-order batters who are aggressive, middle-order batters who play spin on slow wickets and are also power hitters, spinners that turn it both ways, ideally at least one wrist spinner, and then quicks with variations, left-arm, right-arm, people who can bowl at the death,” shared Morgan via Sky Sports Cricket.

The cricketer-turned-commentator, however, was interested in seeing how India will react to the expectations from them throughout the tournament. Morgan also listed down a few other teams which he thought may make it to the business end of the tournament. However, he did not name the two-time champions, West Indies, as a contender but named a few other strong teams who could possibly lift the silverware.

“India stands head and shoulders above everybody else before a ball is bowled. Now, we know the unpredictability of T20 World Cups, you’re dealing with teams, humans, emotion, and the pressure that home advantage sometimes applies to teams around the world. It’s going to be fascinating to see how they both handle it and perform from start to finish. Sitting alongside or behind India or Australia alone, then I’d have teams like South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand as well, all capable of getting to the latter stages, but I think they’re mainly competing against India,” he added.

India have been in stunning form, particularly in the T20I format. They had emerged as the champions of the Asia Cup in 2025. They have also played an exciting brand of cricket in bilateral series. The side currently leads the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand 3-0.