India will look to defend their T20 World Cup crown next February. The showpiece event is co-hosted in both India and Sri Lanka, and before that, the side has an opportunity to test their strengths in weaknesses in the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE. Former Indian chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth opined that while this set of players might end up winning the Asia Cup, they might not win the T20 World Cup coming up.
“We might win the Asia Cup with this team, but there is no chance of winning the T20 World Cup with this bunch. Are you going to take this team to the World Cup? Is this the preparation for the T20 World Cup, which is hardly six months away?” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“They have gone backwards. Axar Patel has been axed from vice-captaincy. I don’t know how Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Harshit Rana have come in. IPL is considered the main criterion for selection, but the selectors seem to have considered performances before that,” he added.
Srikkanth also questioned the Indian batting order. ‘Who will bat at No. 5? Five has to be either Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma or Shivam Dube or Rinku Singh. Hardik Pandya usually bats at No. 5, so now, Patel Axar cannot bat at six. I can’t understand how they picked Dube. Yashasvi Jaiswal have performed in international cricket and IPL as well. What does he do?”
Squad details
Gill returned to the shortest format for the national team since June 2024. The India Test captain recently guided the team in against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy where they tied the series 2-2. Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, missed out while Kuldeep Yadav came back into the team after missing the England T20I series at the beginning of the year. Big-hitter Rinku Singh as well as pace star Jasprit Bumrah was also included.
However, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that this won’t be the final selection for the T20 World Cup 2026. “We have had a nice break…We are trying to look after him: Agarkar said on Bumrah’s workload management. Talking about Jaiswal, who was a standby, Agarkar said, “he will have to wait.”
“We have lovely players around with amazing skills which makes my job easier,” Surya said.
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Full squad:
Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Standbys: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
