Why Zimbabwe Must Qualify through Africa Sub-Regional for 2026 T20 World Cup – Reason Explained

There is usually a lot of hope and anticipation when the teams compete for World Cup gold in the limited-overs formats. At first, only the most powerful cricketing nations participated in the ODI World Cup. However, as T20 cricket evolved, several upstarts were given the chance to advance and showcase their skills to the global community.

Consequently, the International Cricket Council (ICC) began hosting the 20-over World Cup because of the shorter format, which allowed more associate teams and some lesser-known players to join the likes of Australia, Pakistan, and India. The 2024 T20 World Cup offered fans the opportunity to see teams like the United States and Uganda take center stage.

In the competition, the latter struggled, but the United States played flawlessly to upset Pakistan by a significant margin. This victory in particular had a significant impact on Zimbabwe, one of the major but underperforming cricketing nations. They overcame the obstacle of a home qualifying event to earn a spot in the most recent T20 World Cup.

The 2026 edition of the ICC tournament will have 20 teams competing in the World Cup, as the number of countries in the competition has steadily increased. Eight spaces remain open for teams hoping to fulfill their dream of playing in the World Cup, while 12 teams have already earned a direct qualification.

Seychelles and Gambia will play Zimbabwe in the Sub-regional Africa Qualifiers.

A total of 108 nations will compete in the qualifying rounds, which will determine the fate of the open spots for the 2026 T20 World Cup. Through the Sub-regional Africa Qualifier B tournament, Zimbabwe will indirectly qualify for the 2024 edition after the Yellow Cranes, also known as Uganda, completed an incredible comeback to earn a spot at the main event.

Two berths were determined by the cut-off for being among the top 12 teams in the globe, whereas the top eight rated teams were granted direct entry. However, because to the outstanding achievements of the 17th-ranked USA in their first T20 World Cup, the Chevrons were unable to secure the 12th-ranked spot. Previously, two additional sports were assigned to the uninitiated in addition to the eight ranked teams. But as India would be hosting the next edition, they were automatically qualified. An additional squad was fortunate to secure a place in the top 11.

To advance to the T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe will now need to play in the qualifying rounds against nations like Seychelles (ranked 91) and Gambia (ranked 95). In addition, nations like Kenya (ranked 33), Rwanda (ranked 63), and Mozambique (ranked 64) will make their case in their group.

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Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, West Indies, and the United States are among the notable teams who have already qualified for the T20 World Cup, in addition to the hosts, India, and Sri Lanka, who will serve as co-hosts.