Aakash Chopra, the ex-India star picked in his alternate squad for T20 World Cup 2026, in which he selected Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal as openers. 15-member squad for T20 World Cup 2026 has already announced by The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). In the five-match T20I series against New Zealand that take place right before the mega event T20 World Cup 2026, the same set of players will features. Former India batter Aakash Chopra picked an alternate squad for T20 World Cup 2026 with the remaining players. Interestingly, Chopra didn’t name star batter Shubman Gill, who has been dropped from T20I team of India due to his poor performances.
Alternate Team India squad for T20 World Cup 2026 of Aakash Chopra: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Jitesh Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Krunal Pandya, Deepak chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul.
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What dominated the publicity during squad announcement for the T20 World Cup was the insult of out-of-form batter Shubman Gill. Ahead of the Asia Cup this year, he had a lean patch after being brought into T20I team of India as vice-captain. Shubman Gill played 15 innings and scored 291 runs with an average of 24.25 and strike rate of 137-plus. While naming players for the T20 World Cup 2026, his poor form led to the Indian Team for T20 World Cup 2026 selectors dropping him.
This year, 2025 when everything was going right in the Gill side, he had come into India’s T20I team. In the England Test series, he turned out to be the top scorer, and impressed by it, the selectors decided to call him into the T20I set-up. After a gap of more than a year, Gill thus made a return to the T20I format and replaced Sanju Samson in the opening slot.While announcing the squad for the T20 World Cup, the selectors of BCCI took a U-turn, instead of Gill naming Sanju Samson in the team.
At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side will start its T20 World Cup campaign against United State of America on 7 February 2026.
