On 21 July 2015, the Indian cricket board announced the name of the cities which will be hosting the matches. Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamshala, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi will be the venues along with Kolkata, which will also host the final of the event.

Chennai would not host a match due to legal issues regarding the construction of 3 stands at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium. VCA Stadium, Nagpur will host all Group B games whereas, HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala will host all Group A matches.

For the second time, the tournament will feature 16 teams. All ten full members will qualify automatically, and are joined by the six Associate Members that qualified through the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, played in Ireland and Scotland between 6 to 26 July 2015. The qualifying teams are Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Oman. Prior to the qualifying tournament, Oman only had Twenty20 status, but with their progression to their first World Twenty20 tournament, they gained full Twenty20 International status.

The top eight teams in the ICC T20I Championship rankings automatically progress to the Super 10 stage, unless one of the top eight is an associate in which case the next ranked full member will progress in their place. The remaining eight teams compete in the group stage, from which two teams advance to the Super 10 stage.