As the year 2025 is coming to an end, the wait for the 2026 T20 World Cup is also decreasing. Next year, the T20 World Cup will be played from 7 February to 8 March, which will be hosted jointly by India and Sri Lanka. India will enter this tournament as the defending champions, having defeated South Africa in the final of the 2024 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had retired from T20 after the 2024 World Cup, so they will not play in next year’s World Cup. The place of some players including captain Suryakumar Yadav seems to be confirmed in the team. But who are those 5 players who are finding it difficult to get a place in Team India for the T20 World Cup? This may surprise you that out of these 5 players, three were part of the 2024 world winning team.
1. Yashasvi Jaiswal
Yashasvi Jaiswal was part of the Indian squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup. Although he did not get the opportunity to play even a single match. In his T20 career so far, he has scored 723 runs in 23 matches. These also include one century and five half-centuries. Jaiswal opens, but due to the presence of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill in the current Indian team, the opener’s position is not vacant.
2. Ravi Bishnoi
Ravi Bishnoi became the world’s number-1 T20 bowler after his strong performance in the series against Australia in December 2023. Hardly would he have thought that after almost a year, he would not even be a part of the squad, let alone the playing eleven. Bishnoi has taken 61 wickets in 42 T20 matches so far and last played for India in February 2025.
3. Mohammad Siraj
31 January 2025 was the date when Mohammed Siraj last played a T20 match for India. Harshit Rana’s T20 debut took place on this day. It would not be wrong to say that Harshit has replaced Siraj in the T20 team. Not playing any T20 match for the last one year clearly shows that Siraj is not included in Team India’s 2026 T20 World Cup plan. He was part of the 2024 World Cup team.
4. Rinku Singh
This has happened only twice in the last 12 T20 innings with Rinku Singh, when he has played 15 or more balls in the innings. Rinku has the ability to be a part of the playing eleven of any team. Unfortunately, he did not get a place in the squad even in the 2024 World Cup and it is difficult to get a place this time too. After the Australia series, he was suddenly dropped from the T20 squad.
5. Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant is not a regular part of India’s white ball teams. He has been out of the ODI team for the last one and a half years, while he is not getting regular opportunities in the T20 team either. It is also difficult for Pant to get a place in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad because the team already has two wicketkeeper options in the form of Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma.
Also read:
IND vs SA: India-South Africa fifth T20 at Narendra Modi Stadium today, who will win? Know who has the upper hand in the figures
