Four India Players who are out of the Race for T20 World Cup 2026 Squad

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India enter the 2026 T20 World Cup as defending champions from 2024, co-hosting with Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.

The tournament features 20 teams, with India in Group A facing USA, Namibia, Pakistan, and the Netherlands. Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead the Indian side who will be determined to defend their title on home soil.

After 17 years, India ended their wait for a T20 World Cup title in 2024, as the Rohit Sharma-led side beat South Africa in the final. But immediately after that, retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja from T20Is signal a youth-driven rebuild.

Suryakumar Yadav has been backed by consistent performers like Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, as recent T20I squads and IPL 2025 form guide selections, with the BCCI aligning teams for South Africa and New Zealand series ahead of the event.

As BCCI has recently named the India squad for the South Africa series, it indicates their adherence to consistency for India's T20 setup. The majority of the players from the Asia Cup-winning team has been restored, while the solitary elimination of Rinku Singh indicates a shift towards an all-rounder-centric approach. But come the turn of the year, when the Indian selectors pick the team for World Cup to defend their crown, a number of players are almost set to not be in the race for the selection. In this article, we shall take a look at four players who may have gone out of the race for making to India's T20 World Cup squad.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

The southpaw has been mostly involved in the Test format, and his recent underwhelming ODI outings have further put Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the race for his T20 selection. With Abhishek Sharma and a push for Shubman Gill as opener, Yashasvi finds himself down the pecking order, and his omission from the South Africa series further indicates it.

Nitish Reddy

Nitish Reddy has been fairly regular in the Test format. Despite making his reputation in the IPL, the Vizag-born is way behind the selection radar. With Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya in the mix, it seems curtains for him for the T20 World Cup.

Mohammed Siraj

Despite being a part of the T20 World Cup-winning team in 2024, Siraj has been discarded from the short format of the game under Gautam Gambhir. With the likes of Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna being preferred ahead the him, Siraj's chances for making the Shreyas Iyer sustained a spleen laceration with internal bleeding from a blunt abdominal injury during the third ODI against Australia on October 25, 2025, while fielding in Sydney.World Cup squad seem bleak at the moment.

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer sustained a spleen laceration with internal bleeding from a blunt abdominal injury during the third ODI against Australia while fielding in Sydney. The India batter hasn't been a regular in the T20 format, and now looks set to miss out on the squad for T20 World Cup. Iyer's current injury recovery will determine his return to international cricket.