India T20 World Cup 2026 Squad Announced: No Gill, Rinku Singh & Ishan Kishan Included
The Indian Squad has been announced for the five-match T20 series against New Zealand and the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 by the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI). Suryakumar Yadav has been made captain of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2026, and there are no surprise players chosen in this team. The ICC rule allows the countries to make changes before the global tournament starts in India and Sri Lanka.
The greatest shock was in the case of Shubman Gill, who was left out of the team for not scoring any runs since being brought back into the T20I squad following the Asia Cup 2025. Shubman Gill performed average in Australia and South Africa. Team India has now decided to remove him, and the BCCI announced Axar Patel as a new vice-captain for T2O World Cup 2026.
🚨India’s squad for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 announced 🚨
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 20, 2025
Let's cheer for the defending champions 💪#TeamIndia | #MenInBlue | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/7CpjGh60vk
Ishan Kishan has been reinstated in the national squad after an extended period. He led the Jharkhand state cricket squad to victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector, said that the exclusion of the player is unfortunate, but also added that he has been performing poorly lately.
After that, Suryakumar said that the team management want a stable playing XI in the five matches against New Zealand in order to perform well in the series and to fix the slots for players before the World Cup starts. The BCCI refused stand-by players for the competition as the matches are scheduled in India, and if there is an injury, the substitute player joins the team as soon as possible.
India Squad for New Zealand Series and ICC T20 World Cup 2026
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Rinku Singh
