On Saturday, June 29, the Indian cricket team won the T20 World Cup for the second-time in history after defeating South Africa by seven runs in the final at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. Following the title triumph, the three of the stalwarts of Team India, namely Virat Kohli, the captain Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja, announced their retirement from the T20I format.
With that, there will be a few changes in the India T20I team in the coming weeks and months, which is going to kick-start a new era in the format for the reigning champions. In this article, SportsTiger looks at India’s probable playing XI for the T20 World Cup 2026.
Openers: Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal
In the opening slot, there are a lot of great candidates who could take the Indian T20I team forward after the departure of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, but the first couple of names are Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made the trip to the Americas to be a part of the T20 World Cup 2024 squad after splendid starts to their international careers in the shortest format of the game. Gill was the travelling reserve, while Yashasvi Jasiwal was in the main squad for India without getting a game in the tournament.