These changes took place in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup from 2024 to 2026.Image Credit source: PTI

There are barely one and a half months left for the T20 World Cup 2026. This time this tournament is going to be played in India and Sri Lanka and in this the Indian cricket team will defend the title by coming as the world champion on its own soil. Team India will be a contender for the title this time too and this can be seen from the fact that out of all the 20 teams, the Indian team has been announced first. But this time the team that will come to capture the trophy is going to be much changed from the previous team because there have been 7 major changes in the team.

On Saturday, December 20, a 15-member squad for the World Cup was announced at the BCCI headquarters. Suryakumar Yadav Under the captaincy of the Indian team will defend its title in this World Cup. There are some players in this team, including captain Surya himself, who have the experience of winning the World Cup and were part of the winning team in 2024. But there are some faces including Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma, who will play the World Cup for the first time.

These world champions including Rohit-Virat are out

If we compare both the squads, there are 7 players who were part of the Indian team in the T20 World Cup 2024 but will not play in the World Cup this time. The biggest names in this are former captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Both these stars had retired from this format after winning the last World Cup. Along with him, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja had also announced his retirement.

But apart from these, 4 players were dropped this time. At that time also Ajit Agarkar was the chief selector and this time also he is the chief selector. This time Agarkar dropped Rishabh Pant, Mohammad Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yuzvendra Chahal. Of these, only Jaiswal was a contender for a place in the team this time but he too was not given a chance.

Which players' first World Cup?

This time, the 7 players who were given a chance in the squad, confirmed their place in the last one and a half years. In this, Abhishek Sharma has been given the responsibility of opening in place of Rohit. Ishan Kishan, who could not play the World Cup due to being dropped from Team India, has also made a comeback. However, Ishaan was also a part of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

On the other hand, Rinku Singh, who was among the reserve players in the last World Cup, came to the main squad this time. Apart from these, spinner Varun Chakraborty, all-rounder Washington Sundar, top order batsman Tilak Verma and fast bowler Harshit Rana have been selected in this squad. Out of all these, Abhishek, Tilak, Harshit, Sundar, Varun and Rinku will play in the T20 World Cup for the first time.

T20 World Cup 2026Team India for

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