India squad for T20 World Cup 2026 announced: Full list of players

Shubman Gill—who was surprisingly recalled to the T20I setup as vice-captain three months ago—has been left out of India’s squad for the Men’s T20 World Cup, to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7.

Gill was one of the notable omissions when the national senior selection committee, chaired by former India pacer Ajit Agarkar, met at the BCCI headquarters here on Saturday to finalise the squad for India’s title defence. Jitesh Sharma, the second wicketkeeper who featured in a majority of India’s T20Is since the triumphant World Cup campaign in June 2024, also missed out.

With captain Suryakumar Yadav present at the meeting, the selectors opted for Sanju Samson as the preferred opener-wicketkeeper and brought back Ishan Kishan as his backup after a two-year absence from the national setup. All-rounder Axar Patel was reinstated as vice-captain.

Explaining Gill’s omission, Agarkar emphasised the importance of team combinations. “Shubman, we know what a quality player he is. Perhaps he is short of a few runs at the moment,” Agarkar said during a 20-minute media interaction that was also attended by Suryakumar and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia.

“He was unfortunate to miss out on the last T20 World Cup as well because we went for a different combination. This is about combinations more than anything else.”

READ: T20 World Cup 2026: Ishan Kishan forces his way back into Indian team with domestic grind

Agarkar added that the selectors felt a wicketkeeper opening the batting provided greater balance. “We felt a ‘keeper at the top at this point gives us a lot more solidity everywhere else in the team to play different combinations. There are only 15 spots. Someone has to miss out, and this time it is him. It is not because he is not a good player,” he said.

On Jitesh Sharma’s omission, Agarkar said the selectors narrowed their options to like-for-like keeper-openers once Gill was ruled out. “If a ‘keeper is going to bat at the top, our thought was to have another ‘keeper as cover, just in case. At the moment, Jitesh was there and hasn’t done too much wrong,” he explained, while noting that Axar had previously served as vice-captain when Gill was not part of the T20I side.

With Jitesh missing out, Rinku Singh—who was unfortunate to miss the cut in 2024—returned as the designated finisher. The squad also features four spinners, two of them all-rounders, alongside the pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Harshit Rana.

Saikia confirmed that no standby players were named, citing logistical ease with the tournament being co-hosted in India. “Flying in replacements, if required, will not be a problem,” he said.

Full squad

Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Axar (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, and Ishan Kishan (wk).

Published on Dec 20, 2025