India's Schedule - ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Squad, Captain, Match List, Players List - India Men’s National Cricket Team

The International Cricket Council (ICC) released the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 schedule, which will begin on February 07 and will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka at eight different venues across both nations. In the curtain raiser of the event, Pakistan will lock horns with the Netherlands at the SSC Stadium in Colombo.

A total of 20 teams are part of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which are divided into four groups, and each of these groups has five teams. The Indian Men’s National Cricket team will now feature in their opening fixture against the United States of America (USA) on February 07 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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The mouth-watering clash of the tournament between the two arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, will happen on February 15, 2026, at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. India, which won the event’s previous edition in 2024 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, will be looking to lift their third title.

India's Schedule - ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Squad, Captain, Match List, Players List - India Men’s National Cricket Team

There are several strong teams, including Australia, South Africa, and England, who will give a tough fight to India, who are part of Group A in the competition alongside Pakistan, the United States of America (USA), the Netherlands, and Namibia. All of India’s group-stage games will take place in the evening, which makes dew a massive factor in the second innings. 

India’s schedule of T20 World Cup 2026

India squad for T20 World Cup 2026 

India will be led by Suryakumar Yadav in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. His form has been a decent concern for the management in the shortest format of 2025, with his average down to just a touch over 20. He is yet to celebrate a single half-century in the format this year with the bat.

For the squad, India has decided to go with three formidable openers- Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan, as the last two players can also keep wickets. Tilak Varma is expected to be slotted at number three, with Sky coming down at number four.

No one expected the selectors to omit Shubman Gill from the squad, despite the right-handed batter yet to celebrate a single fifty in 2025. Even in the recent home series against the Proteas at home, he returned with low scores before missing the fifth T20I in Ahmedabad, which saw the management opting for Saju Samson, who was fantastic in that rare chance.

“It’s unfortunate to have missed out on the last World Cup as well because we went with different combinations. But it's the combinations more than anything else. Someone has to miss out when you pick 15, and unfortunately, it's Gill at this point.” Ajit Agarkar expressed in the press conference.

Instead of Gill, the selectors decided to give a chance to Ishan Kishan, who was impressive with the bat at a strike rate of over 200 for his 500+ run season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025/26, leading the Jharkhand side to the title.

In place of Gill, India hand over the vice-captaincy to Axar Patel, the spin all-rounder. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are the two premier pacers of the side, along with all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Harshit Rana remains the back-up fast bowler of the event. In the spin department, they picked both their premier wrist-spinners- Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.

Despite not being part of South Africa, Rinku Singh returns for the T20 World Cup 2026, which provides them a new combination to shuffle between Rinku and Washington Sundar.

India’s squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.