The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia on Saturday announced India`s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026.
Team India`s star batsman, Shubman Gill, who is currently struggling with his form, has been dropped from the squad.
Speaking about his omission, Team India`s chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that the right-hander is falling short of runs, and the management has opted for different combinations over anything else.
“I mean, obviously, Shubman was the vice-captain; he is not in the team, so there will have to be somebody else as vice-captain. And Axar, before that, when Shubman was actually not playing the T20Is and playing Test cricket, when a lot of the T20Is used to clash, Axar was the vice-captain. So, that is about the vice-captain,” he said.
In Gill`s absence, Axar Patel has been named as Suryakumar Yadav`s deputy for the marquee tournament.
Further speaking, he also said that Jitesh Sharma has done nothing wrong, but the management wants to go ahead with different combinations.
“About continuity, I mean, you are looking at combinations at the moment. If your keeper is going to bat at the top, our thought was to have another keeper, just in case there is a problem. At the moment, Jitesh was there, again, has not done too much wrong. I mean, Shubman, we know what a quality player he is, perhaps short of a little bit of runs at the moment. Unfortunate to miss out in the last World Cup as well, because we went with different combinations, but it`s the combinations more than anything else,” said Agarkar.
Along with Gill, opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal has also been sidelined, despite having a good record in the format. Swashbuckling batsman Abhishek Sharma has been given a nod ahead of Jaiswal.
Ishan Kishan, who was out of favor of the Indian selectors for a long period of time, has made his comeback in the shortest format setup. He has been picked as the second wicketkeeper-batsman option, with Sanju Samson securing the first spot.
The defending champions, Team India, will open their global showpiece campaign by playing a match against the United States of America (USA) on February 7 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The “Men in Blue” will lock horns against Namibia on February 12 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The high-octane match between arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, is scheduled to be played on February 15 at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. India will conclude their group stage matches by playing a clash against the Netherlands on February 18 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
It will be interesting to see if the “Men in Blue” manage to defend their T20 World Cup title.
India`s squad for T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (WK).
(With ANI Inputs)