Former Indian captain and 2024 T20 World Cup-winning skipper, Rohit Sharma, has identified the players he believes will be backbone of India's title defense in 2026.

Despite having retired from the shortest format, the "Hitman" continues to keep a close eye on the squad's evolution, making a bold prediction about two specific stars.

Speaking recently on JioHotstar, Rohit Sharma bypassed usual mentions of seasoned veterans to highlight Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya as "X-factors" for the upcoming tournament.

“The biggest challenge for captain Suryakumar Yadav and coach Gautam Gambhir will be how to play both Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy together. If you want that combination, you can only do it if you play with two seamers, which is a big challenge. But honestly, I would be tempted to play both, Varun and Kuldeep, because they are wicket-takers, and batters struggle to read them," Rohit said.