T20 World Cup 2026 India squad announced: Ishan Kishan picked over Shubman Gill; Axar Patel named vice-captain

Thank you for following our updates. We hope our live blog helped you stay across all the key selection calls, surprises and talking points as the BCCI unveiled India’s squad for the global showpiece.

Stay tuned to Financial Express Sports for detailed breakdowns, player reactions, expert views and all the build-up to the T20 World Cup 2026.

"It's good responsibility and challenge to play in front of home crowd. The squad looks balanced," says captain Suryakumar Yadav.

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

Team for New Zealand home series and T20 World CUp 2026: Axar Patel named vice-captain

BCCI Secretary Saikia spotted at the media room but the start of the conference is still some time away.

Suryakumar Yadav was in Ahmedabad yesterday. His flight was delayed, say the broadcasters because of which he arrived late to the BCCI headquarters leading to a delay in the press conference.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir joined the meeting through video conferencing.

India have the best win percentage since T20 World Cup 2024. Since that ICC trophy triumph, India have gone on to win 85% of their matches.

Even though fans could have a whole lot of ideas about the players who should be picked, dropped and rested, given how the selection committee has been functioning, there are unlikely to be any major changes to the current T20I squad.

Former India pacer RP Singh, who is part of the selection committee member, has also arrived at the BCCI headquarters for the final selection meeting.

Mumbai, Maharashtra: Selection committee chairperson Ajit Agarkar and other members arrived at the BCCI headquarters for a meeting of the Senior Men’s Selection Committee.

The committee will pick India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand and the 2026 ICC… pic.twitter.com/dg3OsicgUe

— IANS (@ians_india) December 20, 2025

If there is anything that is guaranteed, it is the fact that Abhishek Sharma will surely be on that squad list. The left-handed batter is currently the world's top-ranked T20I batter and narrowly missed out on Virat Kohli's 2016 record of most runs by an Indian in T20s in a year.

The fifth and final India-South Africa T20I was Team India's final international match of the year. Suryakumar Yadav only made 5 runs off 7 balls, ending the year without a T20I half-century to his name.