Explained: Why India's T20 World Cup squad is not final, and changes can be made without approval?

BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar and skipper Suryakumar Yadav spoke at a press conference in Mumbai at the BCCI headquarters (HQ) at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, December 20, when India announced their team for the 2026 T20 World Cup for their title defense. 

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Suryakumar will remain the team's captain despite his poor play, but Shubman Gill was unexpectedly benched. The vice-captain was designated as Axar Patel. Rinku Singh and Ishan Kishan returned to the team.

It is important to remember that although India has announced their team 49 days before to the commencement of the competition, this is not always their final lineup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) must approve any modifications made by the selection committee, even in the absence of an injury. 

For those who are unaware, the final squad must be submitted just one week prior to the event, while the initial squad must be named one month prior to the competition. This implies that the first deadline will be January 7th, while the last one will be either January 31st or February 1st.

This will enable India to make roster adjustments following the five-match Twenty20 International series against New Zealand, which takes place from January 21 to January 31. 

The initial list may be submitted by the teams to ICC without being made public. India, however, has never chosen to do this and has consistently revealed their teams by the first deadline.

Nonetheless, India has previously made adjustments before to the final deadline without suffering any harm. Most recently, Yashasvi Jaiswal was replaced by Varun Chakravarthy on the Champions Trophy team. Similar to this, Shardul Thakur took Axar Patel's place in the T20 World Cup team in 2021.

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Changes may also be made after the second deadline, but they must be approved by the ICC's Event Technical Committee and can only be made in the event of an injury.

India T20 World Cup 2026 Squad: 

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar.

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