India will begin there T20 World Cup campaign on February 7 against USA. This is their likely starting XI for the tournament.
In the 2026 T20 World Cup, India are pitted with Pakistan, the Netherlands, Namibia, and the USA in Group A. They go into the tournament as strong favourites to defend their title.
A slight departure from 2024
In the 2024 edition, India played five specialist batters (including the wicketkeeper) along with three all-rounders and three strike bowlers. They stuck to the same combination in the first of the two years between the two World Cups. Since then, however, they have gradually moved towards a six-two-three combination.
The decision to replace an all-rounder with the extra batter has its roots in the fact that several batters of the current India outfit can bowl. Between them, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, and Abhishek Sharma can bowl more than four overs in case a bowler goes down or has an off day.
Match 3, India vs USA
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Who are the certain starters?
Abhishek, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, and Hardik Pandya are not only “locks” in an India T20I XI but perhaps even in a World XI in the format. It will not be an exaggeration to call them the best fast bowler, spinner, batter, and pace-bowling all-rounder in contemporary T20 cricket.
Read: How India can optimise Jasprit Bumrah’s overs
Having been the best T20I batter not too long ago, captain Suryakumar Yadav had an ordinary 2025 before roaring back to form in 2026. Vice-captain Axar Patel, a quality defensive spinner and an excellent player of spin, will be the second all-rounder of the XI. Over the past few years, Tilak and Dube have established themselves as permanent fixtures in the side as well.
Wankhede assists pace more than spin, which will bring Arshdeep Singh in the mix ahead of Kuldeep Yadav. Since India bat until eight, Harshit Rana’s batting credentials are not going to give him the edge over Arshdeep either.
That makes it nine out the XI: what India will need are Abhishek’s opening partner, a death-over hitter, and the third strike bowler.
The second opener
Sanju Samson was Abhishek’s partner of choice when India began the New Zealand series. Against New Zealand, however, he made 46 runs in 34 balls across five innings. Given his usual high-risk approach to powerplay batting, the team management might have ignored this as a small sample – had Ishan Kishan not smashed 215 runs at a strike rate of 231 in the same series.
In the warm-up game against South Africa at Navi Mumbai, India made their choice clear by using Kishan as Abhishek’s partner. Kishan blasted a 20-ball 53 with seven sixes. Samson did not bat in India’s innings of 240-5.
There is one problem, however: with Tilak at one-drop, India will now have three left-handers in their top three (and probably two more in the top seven). Expect off-spinners to open bowling against them.
The finisher
Rinku is the obvious choice, but there are two alternatives. One, they India get both Samson and Kishan in and drop Tilak to five. And two, being overwhelming favourites, India may give Washington Sundar a go at seven.
However, Rinku remains the likeliest option. Among Full Member batters with 500 runs while batting between No.5 and No.8, only Tim David (175) and Andre Russell (163) have better strike rates than Rinku’s 161.
India’s T20 World Cup 2026 starting XI:
Abhishek Sharma
Ishan Kishan (wk)
Tilak Varma
Suryakumar Yadav (c)
Shivam Dube
Hardik Pandya
Rinku Singh
Axar Patel
Arshdeep Singh
Jasprit Bumrah
Varun Chakravarthy
