The ICC Playing Conditions mention the qualification criterion if every T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights game is washed out.
Rain washes out Pakistan-New Zealand
Rain in Colombo prevented any play in the league game between Australia and Zimbabwe as well as the Super Eights game between Pakistan and New Zealand. Five other Group 2 games are scheduled in Sri Lanka, across two venues in Colombo and Kandy.
While not seasonal, rain may interrupt cricket in India as well. All that brings us to the theoretical (but not impossible) question: what if, after numerous washouts (or in some other way) teams finish with the same points after the Super Eights?
What do the Playing Conditions say?
At the ODI World Cup, the Super Sixes were introduced in 1999, retained (with some tweaks) in 2003, and expanded to the Super Eights in 2007. In these editions, teams carried forward their points from the first round. Unlike these editions, the Super Eights (or Super 10s or Super 12s) at the T20 World Cup do not carry forward league points or net run rates.
Clause 16.10.4 of the T20 World Cup Playing Conditions (Progression of Teams – First Round and Super Eights) mention the criterion based on which teams will make it to the semi-finals.
“In the event of teams finishing on equal points in their group, the right to progress to the next stage of the competition will be decided in the following order of priority: a) The team with the greatest number of wins in its group will be placed in the higher position. b) If there are teams with equal points and equal wins in their group, the team with the higher net run rate in the group stage will be placed in the higher position (refer to clause 16.10.7 below for the calculation of net run rate). c) If two or more teams are still equal, they will be ordered according to the head-to-head match played between them.”
These criterion (points, then wins, then net run rate, then head to head), however, are relevant only when teams actually play at least once. What if there is no play in a group at all?
Clause 16.10.4 d addresses that: “If the above does not resolve the group ordering, or if all matches within a group produce no results, then the teams will be ordered as per their position on the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings as at 6 February 2026.”
In other words, the ICC will refer to the men’s team rankings on the eve of the T20 World Cup.
The points accrued at the group stage will have no bearing on semi-final spots.
Who will qualify if the entire Super Eights are washed out?
Based on the above, India (first) and South Africa (fifth) will go through from Group 1 ahead of the West Indies (seventh) and Zimbabwe (12th), while England (third) and New Zealand (fourth) will pip Pakistan (sixth) and Sri Lanka (eighth) from Group 2.
South Africa will face England in the first semi-final, at Kolkata on March 4, while India will host New Zealand for the second, at Mumbai on March 5.
