Colombo: Admission to the opening match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 between Pakistan and the Netherlands, to be held at the Sinhala Sports Corporation (SSC) stadium on Saturday, will be free for fans, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced on Friday.
According to the SLC, fans will be able to catch the curtain raiser to the 20-team tournament co-hosting India from February 7 to March 8, “for free”, from 9:30 am local time, an hour and a half before the start of the action, with gates five and seven opening.
“The inaugural match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 is scheduled to be held tomorrow at the Colombo SSC Stadium, free of charge to the public,” the SLC said in a statement.
Accordingly, SSC ground gates no. 5 and 7 will be opened for public viewing from 9.30 am onwards.
“The opening match will be between Pakistan and Netherlands, the match will start at 11:00 AM”
However, the opening game of the tournament may be hampered as heavy rain is likely in the evening, with a maximum rainfall of 83 percent and around 4.2 mm of rainfall.
Historically, Pakistan and Netherlands teams have faced each other twice, with the Men in Green winning both the matches. The Flying Dutchmen have yet to register a victory.
Groups:
Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (catch), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Faqar Zaman, Khawaja Nafe, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shatab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Khan.
Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Colin Ackerman, Noah Kroos, Paz De Leete, Aryan That, Fred Klaassen, Kyle Klein, Michael Levitt, Zach Lyon-Cachet, Max O’Dowd, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Guchtender McVervey, Paul van der McVervey, Rolf Zulbikar.
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