Indian wicketkeeper batsman Jitesh Sharma finally broke his silence on being dropped from the ICC T20 World Cup squad. He revealed that he was unaware of his omission from the Indian team and was not aware of the omission until the official team was announced.
India’s experienced campaigner Jitesh Sharma is emerging in the shortest format of the game. He has played for India in the shortest format of the game and was recently a part of the T20 series against Australia and South Africa.
Jitesh moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2025 and played a big role in their first title win. Jitesh Sharma also led the India A team in the Men’s Emerging Asia Cup as team captain, but failed to qualify for the knockouts.
“I was not aware of my being dropped from the team until the team was announced” – Jitesh Sharma
Ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, when India announced their squad for the tournament, wicketkeeper batsman Jitesh Sharma was ignored from the 15-man squad for the home World Cup.
Jitesh played for India in the second half of the Australia T20 series and also played all four matches in the South Africa series, but made very modest contributions with the bat. He has also been dropped from the New Zealand T20 series.
Jitesh Sharma told CricTracker, “I was not aware of my being dropped from the team until the squad was announced. After that, I agreed with the explanation given by the selectors in the press conference; it was a valid reason. Later, I discussed it with the coaches and selectors and I felt their reasoning was justified. I completely understood what they wanted to explain to me and I agreed with it.”
In an exclusive interview with CricTracker, Jitesh Sharma breaks his silence on being left out of India’s 2026 T20 World Cup squad.#Jitesh Sharma pic.twitter.com/plKXvdIRqm
– Crictracker (@crickettracker) 13 January 2026
Jitesh Sharma ignores Virat Kohli from his all-time IPL XI
During the same interview, Jitesh Sharma picked his all-time IPL XI and ignored Virat Kohli from the lineup. Instead he chose Rohit Sharma as the opening batsman and paired him with Adam Gilchrist.
After this he did not spare Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, who can be called one of the most dynamic batsmen in the history of IPL. Two South African legends, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers were then selected to strengthen the middle order.
After this, he chose the most successful captain of IPL, MS Dhoni, as the captain of the team and chose the pair of Indian all-rounders in the form of Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. Jasprit Bumrah, RCB teammate Josh Hazlewood and Indian spinner Varun Chakravarthy were named in the XI.
Jitesh Sharma’s latest stint in Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26
Following the completion of the South Africa series, Indian wicketkeeper batsman Jitesh Sharma returned to his team Baroda in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. After playing 5 games in the season, the batsman did not have the best touch.
He scored single digit scores in four matches for Baroda and then eventually made a crucial contribution for Baroda in the game against Chandigarh. He scored his first half-century of this edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
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