5 Unlucky Indian Players Who Miss Out on T20 World Cup 2026 Despite Match-Winning Ability

Mumbai: The Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 has been announced, with Suryakumar Yadav leading a 15-member team. The tournament, jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, will begin on 7 February. While some selections were widely anticipated, a few notable players have surprisingly missed out despite having proven match-winning capabilities.

Here are 5 key players left out of the squad:

1. Yashasvi Jaiswal
Jaiswal has scored 723 runs in 22 T20 International innings for India, averaging 36 with a strike rate of 164. He was the backup opener in the last T20 World Cup but has been surprisingly dropped this time.

2. Mohammad Siraj
Siraj was part of India’s previous T20 World Cup-winning squad and featured in the early matches. However, due to pitch conditions in the West Indies leg, he did not get consistent opportunities, and now he has been excluded from the 2026 squad.

3. Ravi Bishnoi
With Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy as India’s primary spinners, former top-ranked spinner Ravi Bishnoi misses out. Bishnoi played his last T20 match earlier this year against England.

4. Jitesh Sharma
Jitesh was part of the Asia Cup squad and impressed during the Australia tour. In the recent South Africa series, he scored 10 off 5 balls and 27 off 17 balls in two innings. Despite these performances, he has been left out.

5. Rishabh Pant
Pant was part of India’s previous T20 World Cup-winning squad. He has not played any T20 matches this year due to a focus on Test cricket, and he is now largely out of contention for the T20 World Cup squad.