• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Shubman Gill Opener Rinku Singh Out Aakash Chopra Picks Indias T20 World Cup Squad

Shubman Gill Opener; Rinku Singh OUT: Aakash Chopra picks India's T20 World Cup squad

Mayank

Chopra picked Gill as his first choice opener for the T20 World Cup [Source: ShubmanGill, Oam_16/X.com]Chopra picked Gill as his first choice opener for the T20 World Cup [Source: ShubmanGill, Oam_16/X.com]

The T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka is fast approaching, as India is left with only a series against New Zealand and a solitary T20I against South Africa to prepare for the marquee event, in which they will be the defending champions under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, who will lead a young team in which most players will be playing their first ICC event.

As the competition inches closer, the anticipation among the fans and pundits around team selection has been high, considering a lot of chopping and changing has happened since Shubman Gill was named as the deputy to Yadav, while the likes of Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh have lost their spots.

Here's how former India opener and analyst Aakash Chopra's squad for the tournament looks.

Aakash Chopra picks India's T20 World Cup squad

In conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Chopra didn't explicitly mention his first choice opener alongside Abhishek Sharma; however, named Gill ahead of Samson, considering he is the vice-captain of the team and clearly picked the latter as an opener rather than a number 5 or 6 option.

Jitesh Sharma looked like his first choice wicket-keeper, who would also be finishing matches alongside Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel. Interestingly, along the lines of the recent team selections, the proven finisher Rinku missed out on his squad, and Washington Sundar found a place.

Among his bowling attack were the world number 1, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav as spinners, India's leading wicket-takers in the format, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah as the first choice fast bowlers and Harshit Rana capped off the squad.

Openers: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (wk)

Middle order batters: Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk)

All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar

Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.

The mega T20 event is set to begin from February 7 to March 8 across five Indian and three Sri Lankan venues. Grouped alongside Pakistan, among others, India will play their first match on the February 7 against the USA in Mumbai. Their final squad will be announced on December 20.