Women’s T20 World Cup heads to the multiplex for Rs 99

MUMBAI: Cricket on the big screen is no longer just a men’s game. JioStar and PVR INOX have struck a landmark partnership to screen the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 live in cinemas, marking the first time international women’s cricket has ever made it to the theatrical circuit in India, and tickets will cost as little as Rs 99.

The deal is generous in scope. PVR INOX will screen every one of India’s group-stage fixtures, both semi-finals and the final live across cinemas nationwide, with prices capped between Rs 99 and Rs 150 to keep the experience within reach of as many fans as possible. The rollout has been built to scale up as the tournament progresses, with more venues added as the stakes rise, and the two companies are promising a minimum of 168 screenings across the group stage and knockouts, by their own reckoning, the widest theatrical release women’s cricket has ever had in India.

Gautam Dutta, chief executive officer for revenue and operations at PVR INOX, leaned into the stadium comparison hard. Cricket has an unmatched ability to bring people together, he said, and fans will now get to watch every boundary, wicket and celebration on the big screen in a setting he’s billing as truly immersive and stadium-like. He framed the tie-up as proof of the growing fandom around women’s cricket rather than a one-off stunt.

For JioStar, the move slots neatly into a broader push to build long-term momentum behind the women’s game, shifting the biennial tournament out of living rooms and into shared community spaces where fans can watch collectively rather than alone on a phone screen. The broadcaster’s reach is already vast: its television and streaming operations together pull in more than 750 million viewers a week, and putting that audience inside a cinema, popcorn in hand, is a different kind of bet on women’s cricket’s box-office pull entirely.

PVR INOX brings the infrastructure to match the ambition: 1,798 screens across 359 properties in 113 cities spanning India and Sri Lanka, the product of the 2023 merger between PVR and INOX Leisure. Tickets go live through the PVR INOX website and app, and if the rollout works as planned, this World Cup won’t just be watched. It’ll be packed out, cheered on, and consumed the way cricket was always meant to be experienced: together, loudly, on a screen too big to look away from.