Former England captain Michael Vaughan has predicted India will qualify for the final of the T20 World Cup 2026 and also named the opponents they’ll face in the summit clash that will take place on March 8.

Vaughan's prediction came after South Africa defeated West Indies by nine wickets in Ahmedabad during the Super 8s stage game.

India was in a perilous position in the World Cup after losing to South Africa in their first Super-Eight match. Had the West Indies defeated South Africa, India would have had only a slim chance of making the semi-finals.

Their hopes are still in their own hands: a win over Zimbabwe on Thursday evening, followed by another over the Windies on March 1, would earn them straight qualifying.

Vaughan stated that with South Africa already qualifying for the semi-finals, he feels it will be an India v South Africa final. He also backed the Men in Blue to ‘put right what went wrong’ in the 2023 World Cup by winning this tournament’s final at the same venue, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

“You sometimes need a little bit of a blip along the way. They’ll say that they won’t need a blip because they’re playing so well. But I’ll say now this has happened. It would not surprise me at all if it’s a South Africa-India final," Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.

“I say it because if you think about what could happen, they could have a moment back in Ahmedabad where they can put right what went wrong a couple of years ago. It could be their moment, got to win some games, but I just think this is three hours of cricket… if you’re the Indian players now, you’ve just seen that before; you’re springing into tonight’s game. You know that you’ve got the West Indies in Calcutta, which will be a big game. For me in sport, you don’t give world-class performers another chance. The Indian players have had another chance now," he added.

South Africa and India played the 2024 T20 World Cup final, too, and India emerged victorious in that one.