On Saturday, December 20, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the India national cricket team for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is going to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The tournament will start from 7th February and the final match will be held on 8th March.
India’s T20 World Cup team announced
The Men in Blue will enter the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 as defending champions, having won the title in 2024 under Rohit Sharma.
They have been drawn in the same group as the United States, Namibia, Pakistan and the Netherlands, and will begin their campaign against the United States on February 7.
Their next match will be against Namibia on 12 February, before a high-octane clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on 15 February. Their last group stage match will be against Netherlands on 18 February.
The Men in Blue will play their group stage matches at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, R.K. Stadium in Colombo. Will play at Premadasa Stadium and Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Talking about the 15-member team, it is mostly as expected. Suryakumar Yadav, who is going through a poor phase in T20I cricket, will lead the team and Axar Patel will act as his deputy.
World No. 1 batsman Abhishek Sharma will continue as India’s opening batsman and will get the necessary support in the batting department from players like Suryakumar, Rinku Singh and Tilak Verma.
Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Shivam Dubey will act as India’s key all-rounders and Washington Sundar will provide back-up.
Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have been named as the two wicketkeeper-batsmen, while Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav have been selected as the two frontline spinners.
The fast bowling department will be led by Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, while Harshit Rana will act as the back-up fast bowler.
Indian team for ICC T20 World Cup 2026:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan.
India’s group stage schedule for ICC T20 World Cup 2026:
| date | match | venue | |
| 07 February 2026 | India vs America | Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai | |
| 12 February 2026 | india vs namibia | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi | |
| 15 February 2026 | india vs pakistan | R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo | |
| 18 February 2026 | India vs Netherlands | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad |
Also read: Indian cricketers are battling dengue-chikungunya before T20 World Cup 2026
