T20 World Cup 2026: JioStar, which is the official broadcaster of the 2026 T20 World Cup, has been praised for bringing out a brilliant campaign for the upcoming mega event, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka from next month. For the first time, India's World Cup-winning women’s team was a part of this promotional ad for the T20 World Cup.

Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma are seen in this promo, where they are confident that the Suryakumar Yadav-led side will defend the title.

“On 2 November 2025, a dream came true. But now it’s time to get onto the field again, roar again, and wave our flags once again. Because now it’s time for our men to shine. We got one cup home — we won’t let the other one go,” Jemimah and Shafali were heard as saying in the video.

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“After all, our boys are no less than our girls,” Shafali said.

At the same time, they were seen wearing jerseys of the men's team, like that of skipper Suryakumar Yadav, and that shows that the role has reversed.

This ad has been called refreshing, particularly because it flips a long-standing norm. Traditionally, broadcasters have relied on male cricketers to promote women’s tournaments. Even ahead of the 2025 Women’s World Cup, Rohit Sharma featured in a promotional campaign urging the nation to rally behind the women’s team.

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Fans were quick to applaud Star Sports for the creative thinking behind the campaign. “Never been a fan of their promos, but @StarSportsIndia has hit it out of the park with this one. Never imagined there would come a day when our women’s cricketers would be seen promoting the men’s game. Kudos to the concept team. Now, over to the men to win that,” one fan wrote on X.

“Give the promo team a raise. Definitely one of the better ads in recent times,” another user commented, while a third simply said, “Love the uno reverse.”

India’s women’s team silenced critics in November last year by winning the 50-over World Cup at home. Jemimah Rodrigues was the standout performer in the semi-final, scoring a match-winning century in a steep chase against Australia, the dominant force in women’s cricket. In the final, Shafali Verma delivered a memorable all-round performance against South Africa.

Interestingly, Shafali was not part of the squad at the start of the tournament, but an injury to opener Pratika Rawal brought her back into contention. Joining the side only at the semi-final stage, she seized the moment in the final and became a household name following India’s historic triumph.

Attention will now turn to the men’s team, who will aim to defend their T20 World Cup title. India, under Rohit Sharma, won the tournament for the second time in 2024. Suryakumar Yadav will captain a new-look side in the upcoming edition, which will be without Rohit and Virat Kohli.

India will begin their campaign against the USA in Mumbai on February 7, before facing Namibia in New Delhi on February 12. They will then take on arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo on February 15, before concluding their league stage against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on February 18.


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