Team India already hold the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, the ICC Men’s ODI Champions Trophy and the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup. Now, a journey to another T20 Men’s World Cup is about to begin when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) names the squad for the mega event. As per reports, the BCCI will name a 15-man squad for the home T20 World Cup 2026 on December 20, Saturday.
BCCI’s chairmen of selectors, headed by Ajit Agarkar, will meet at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to conduct planning for the squad before addressing the media and journalists. The schedule for the T20 World Cup 2026 is already out, as the 20 participating teams are divided into four groups. India’s group A includes Pakistan, the USA, Namibia and the Netherlands.
T20 World Cup and IND vs NZ squads to be same
As mentioned before, the squads for the T20 World Cup 2026 and the five-match T20I series that precedes the ICC tournament will be the same. After the T20I rubber against South Africa ends tonight (Dec 19), India will host the Kiwis for another five-match T20I series at home. The series starts on January 21. The series concludes on January 31, giving ample time for both the teams to do their dress rehearsals before the T20 World Cup 2026.
Due to no time for major turnaround, the squads will be identical. Hence, tomorrow, when Agarkar names the squad, it will be for both the series/tournaments. This could also be the same case for New Zealand.
According to International Cricket Council (ICC) rules, teams have to announce their squad 30 days before the tournament starts. This means Team India originally had time till January 8 to name the team. But due to a bilateral lined up in such short period of time, it is a great choice to name the squad this early. It must be noted that teams can change the lineup until 1 week before the tournament by seeking permission from the ICC. Also, in case of any injuries, teams can tweak a change during the tournament as well.
As far as the squad for the World Cup is concerned, there shouldn’t be any expectations for a major change. Shubman Gill’s place is the only major point of discussion but with him being the vice-captain, the BCCI will back him.
India’s T20 World Cup squad (likely)
- Shubman Gill (vc)
- Abhishek Sharma
- Suryakumar Yadav (c)
- Tilak Varma
- Hardik Pandya
- Shivam Dube
- Jitesh Sharma (wk)
- Sanju Samson (wk)
- Axar Patel
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Varun Chakaravarthy
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Arshdeep Singh
- Harshit Rana
- Washington Sundar/Nitish Kumar Reddy
India’s schedule for T20 World Cup 2026
| Match | Date | Venue | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| India vs USA | February 8 | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | Group |
| India vs Namibia | February 12 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | Group |
| India vs Pakistan | February 15 | R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo | Group |
| India vs Netherlands | February 18 | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad | Group |
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