The India vs Pakistan match in the Women's T20 World Cup created a new record as the most-attended group-stage game in the history of the ICC Women's World Cup.A sell-out crowd of 18,814 attended the high-profile match at Edgbaston in Birmingham, surpassing the previous record of 15,935 fans for the India vs Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium in the T20 World Cup in 2024.A dominant India thrashed Pakistan by 64 runs to make a winning start to their Women's T20 World Cup campaign.'The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 has got off to a record-breaking start with the opening weekend breaking attendance, viewing and engagement records across the United Kingdom (UK), India and the rest of the world,' the ICC said in a media release.A total of 44,844 fans attended games across the first three days of the tournament, setting a new attendance record for the opening weekend of an ICC Women's event.The in-stadia figures exceeded the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup's opening three-day attendance of 34,680 last year, underlining the record-breaking momentum behind the biggest-ever women's cricket event.
134 million viewers watched India vs Pakistan on JioStar
In India, JioStar's digital coverage on JioHotstar has already delivered a cumulative live tournament reach of 215 million and 1.3 billion minutes of live watch time so far, with India's win over Pakistan reaching 134 million viewers and generating 1.1 billion minutes of watch time alone. This is now the highest digital reach for any league-stage match across all formats in women's cricket.The record-breaking India vs Pakistan match followed a standout opening night in Birmingham, where 14,865 supporters were wowed by the West End production of Wicked before Dani Wyatt-Hodge's starring role inspired hosts England to victory over Sri Lanka.Sky Sports' broadcast of the opening game registered a peak viewership of 510,000 and an average audience of 393,000. This is the broadcaster's highest-ever average audience for a single game at an ICC Women's T20 World Cup.The record-breaking start has also manifested across ICC digital platforms. There have been more than 753 million video views across ICC content on social media, representing a near 150 percent increase on the same period of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024.A further 617 million-plus video views have been delivered by the ICC's Content Creator Programme, which has seen dozens of social media stars flock to the United Kingdom to share the tournament with new and nuanced global audiences. Combined, those content creators have driven 30 million+ engagements.Across live streams on ICC.tv, there has been a 75 percent jump in both unique users and total watch time. And thanks to a dedicated partnership with YouTube to take the game into wider growth markets, there have been over 150,000 hours of watch-time generated on ICC's YT channel.'This record-breaking start is a powerful reflection of the months of planning, collaboration and commitment from the ICC, the ECB, our broadcast partners and every stakeholder involved in delivering this event. To see that work translate into record attendances, landmark broadcast audiences and exceptional digital engagement in the opening weekend speaks to the momentum we managed to create for this marquee moment and also the growing power of the women's cricket movement,' ICC Chief Executive, Sanjog Gupta, said.
'This is only the beginning. Our ambition for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 has always been to raise the bar for the women's game, create a bigger stage for the world's best players and deliver an event that reaches new fans, inspires future generations and leaves a lasting legacy for cricket in England and Wales and around the world.'
