India squad announced for ICC T20 World Cup 2026
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The Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 has been officially announced. The BCCI has named a 15-member team. Regular T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side. Under his leadership, India has remained unbeaten in the T20 series so far. At the same time, Axar Patel will be his deputy.
Shubman Gill will not be a part of the squad. Rinku Singh will replace him in the World Cup squad. Apart from Shubman, Jitesh Sharma will also miss the upcoming WC. Instead of Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Kishan is back in the T20I side. Kishan scored 517 runs in the recently held Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, including 2 centuries and 2 half-centuries.
This time, India will head into the tournament as the defending champions. Under Rohit Sharma's leadership, India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 title. The 10th edition of the T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. During the squad announcement, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and skipper Suryakumar Yadav were present.
India's 15-man squad has been announced for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026. 🇮🇳🏏
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📸: BCCI/X#oneturfnews #teamindia #t20worldcup2026 #suryakumaryadav #cricket pic.twitter.com/LTvZB0gdui
The selected squad features a balanced combination, comprising three specialist batsmen, two wicketkeepers, three fast bowlers, five all-rounder, and two frontline spinners. The same team will also feature in the upcoming 5-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Shubman Gill's recent T20 form has been poor. He had been consistently trying to regain his form for some time. In 15 innings this year, he managed to score only 291 runs, with an average of just 24.25. Meanwhile, most of the questions were being raised about his strike rate. He hadn't scored a single half-century. Furthermore, he recently suffered an injury during a net practice session before the Lucknow T20 match, due to which he was unable to play in the fourth & fifth T20. While Jitesh Sharma is also unable to confirm his spot for the upcoming mega event.
After announcing the squad, chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the reason for not selecting Shubman Gill in the press conference. He said that Shubman Gill was not dropped due to poor form, but rather because he doesn't currently fit into the team combination.
“We know what quality player Shubman Gill is, short of runs at the moment. Unfortunately, he missed out on this T20 World Cup and last World Cup too".
“When someone's playing Tests and not playing T20s, you can't say it's for combinations. When Sanju and Tilak made those 100s in South Africa last year, the Test team were in Australia. You saw Sanju opening last night and that tells you what the thinking is. With picking a second wicketkeeper for the top," said Ajit Agarkar.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia subsequently stated that no standby players would be included in the squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 and the series against New Zealand. The reason behind this decision is that both tournaments will be played in India.
India Squad for T20 World Cup 2026
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan
Predicted India playing XI
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vc), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakrawarthy
