Predicting India's strongest squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026

The ICC T20 World Cup 2026 will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka and is expected to begin on February 7 next year. Five venues in India and three venues in Sri Lanka have been finalized by the ICC for the event.

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India are the defending champions of the T20 World Cup, having won the tournament in 2024 under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Since then, Suryakumar Yadav has taken over as the captain and led India to a near-invincible record in the format, including an Asia Cup T20 win in Dubai.

India has given a chance to youngsters in their T20I squads and has preferred all-rounders over specialists in the format, and certain players have flourished for the Indian team under the right guidance. As we take steps towards the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, let’s have a look at the best possible and strongest squad for the Indian team in the event.

Here is the predicted strongest squad for India for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026:

India will be playing the majority of their matches at home, barring one against Pakistan that will be played in Sri Lanka. This means powerful openers with terrific strike rates like Abhishek Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, and Shubman Gill are likely to be picked for the Indian squad.

The Indian team middle order is likely to be packed with muscle as well, including power hitters and good players of spin like Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Tilak Varma. Rinku Singh will be the backup hitter for India.

With the new Indian team management under Gautam Gambhir relying more on all-rounders to have batting depth, India is not short of spin bowling all-rounders. Axar Patel and Washington Sundar will be the prime selections for India, with Hardik and Shivam Dube being the pace all-rounders who tonk big shots against spinners.

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Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy are likely to be the two proper spinners, whose uniqueness sets them apart. One being a left-arm wrist spinner and the other being a mystery spinner will keep the opposition batting guessing their whole spells.

Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh are likely to be the main pacers for India, with Hardik and Dube being the supplementary medium pacers. If India wants, they might include Mohammed Siraj or Harshit Rana as well.

Predicted India's strongest squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026

Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Sanju Samson (WK), Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Shivam Dube.

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