T20 World Cup 2026: Ranking teams by strength of their opening pairs

The upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup gets underway on February 7, with India taking on the USA at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Matches will be played in India and Sri Lanka. For the second consecutive T20 World Cup edition, 20 teams will be participating in the marquee event.

India are the defending champions, having won the title in 2024 after defeating South Africa in the final. In this article, let's rate the opening pairs of the top-10 ranked teams participating in the global extravaganza.

T20 World Cup 2026: Rating Opening Pairs From Each Team (Top-10 ranked teams)

10 Paul Stirling and Ross Adair - Ireland

While Ireland are ranked No. 11 in the ICC rankings, they are included on this list because rank 9, Bangladesh, has been replaced by Scotland in the tournament. Skipper Paul Stirling is set to open the batting with Ross Adair in the 20-team event.

While Stirling is the leading run-getter for Ireland in the shortest format, Ross Adair has only played a handful of T20Is so far and has decent numbers. However, their biggest challenge will be adjusting to spin-friendly conditions as they will play all their group games in Sri Lanka.