Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 15-man squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday, with top-order batsman Shubman Gill notably absent.
Returning to India’s T20I fold in September this year, Gill has struggled in the shortest format, amassing 291 runs in 15 innings at a dismal average of 22.38.
His highest individual score during this period came in the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup Super Four match against arch-rivals, where he scored a blistering 47 in India’s six-wicket victory.
Gill’s struggles continued in India’s recently concluded five-match home T20I series against South Africa as he managed to register scores of four, zero and 28 in the first three matches. He was later kicked out of the final, while the final was abandoned due to foggy weather.
Apart from him, India also dropped wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh Sharma from their squad for the South Africa series.
For the uninitiated, India enters the 20-team mega-event as the defending champions and will begin their campaign against the United States (USA) on the first match day on February 7.
They next face Namibia on February 12 before facing arch-rivals Pakistan on February 15, while their last group-stage game is scheduled for February 8 against the Netherlands.
It is to be noted that India will co-host the T20 World Cup 2026 with Sri Lanka which is scheduled to be held from February 7 to March 8.
India Squad for 2026 T20 World Cup:
Suryakumar Yadav (catch), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakraborty, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Ringu Singh.