T20 World Cup 2026: Harsha Bhogle predicts India squad, leaves out Yashasvi Jaiswal

Prominent commentator Harsha Bhogle has not picked left-handed aggressive batter Yashasvi Jaiswal for his 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup next year. The T20 World Cup 2026 is scheduled to be played from February 7 and March 8 next year.

Other than Jaiswal, he also did not consider the services of youngster Nitish Kumar Reddy. Hardik Pandya, who was not a part of the Australia series due to a left quadriceps injury sustained during the Asia Cup 2025, was drafted into Harsha's setup on the condition that 'everyone is fit and conditions are true', during a discussion on Cricbuzz.

Other than the above, the rest of the squad was exactly the same picked by the selectors for the recently-concluded five-match T20I series against Australia. India emerged victorious by winning two matches as compared to the sole one which the Aussies won, with two matches being washed out due to rain.

Harsha's India squad for the T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vc), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah

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Jaiswal's exclusion comes as a big shock to the cricket fraternity. He has impressed with the limited opportunities provided to him. The southpaw has registered 723 runs in 23 T20Is at an explosive strike rate of 164.31. He last played a 20-over match for the Men in Blue on July 2024. Ever since then, Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill have been tried out as opening partners of Abhishek Sharma. 

Since the Asia Cup, Gill has been opening alongside Abhishek. The latter recently starred in the T20I series Down Under, winning the Player of the Series award for scoring 163 runs in five innings while striking at 161.38. The left-handed batter from Punjab was also the Player of the Tournament at the 2025 Asia Cup.

The Men in Blue will have a couple of T20I series played before the mega event arrives in February. They will host South Africa and New Zealand in the near future.