BCCI has announced a 15-member team under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, which will defend its title in the T20 World Cup 2026. Vice-captain Shubhman Gill and Jitesh Sharma have been dropped, Ishan Kishan has returned to the team after 2 years. In the previous edition (2024), India had won this title, which also had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both the legends have retired from T20 International, but 8 such players are part of the upcoming T20 World Cup team who were also included in the last edition champion team.
Every fan of Indian cricket will have that picture in their memories, when Suryakumar Yadav took the catch of David Miller on the boundary in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah bowled brilliantly in the end. Surya is now the captain of T20, Hardik and Bumrah are also important players of T20.
Indian team for T20 World Cup 2026
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel (vice-captain), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper).
Those 8 players, who were part of the 2024 champion team
Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Akshar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav.
Sanju Samson was also a part of the T20 World Cup 2024 champion team, although Rishabh Pant was playing in the playing 11. This time Rishabh Pant is not a part of the squad, so Samson will be the main wicketkeeper. He will start the innings with Abhishek Sharma.
Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who were part of the champion team in the last edition, are not part of the upcoming T20 World Cup team, while Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja have retired from T20 International.
India’s schedule in T20 World Cup 2026
- 7 February- vs America (Mumbai)
- 12 February- vs Namibia (Delhi)
- 15 February- vs Pakistan (Colombo)
- 18 February- vs Netherlands (Ahmedabad)
