India’s T20 dynasty faces its biggest test yet as a new era takes shape

Indian T20 team’s wish list: a gold medal, a confident captain, a stable core… what else?

As champions of back-to-back T20 world cups, the Indian T20 side was looking invincible just a few months ago. Since then, they have dropped their captain and appointed a new one, dropped their player of the tournament and lost series against England, and shockingly against Ireland. Their only series win since then has come against Zimbabwe. Suddenly, they started looking like a team that is tentative, unsettled and dare I say, very beatable.
With a busy few weeks of T20 cricket coming up, the team will be embarking on challenges that are unique, tricky and almost existential. Between now and 1 November 2026, India are set to play potentially 17 T20 internationals and each of these campaigns is going to be distinct in their own way.

The Schedule

The first of these campaigns is going to be the first ever “away” series against Afghanistan, with all three matches to be played at Delhi. It is common knowledge that T20 is Afghanistan’s strongest format, and they are more than capable of causing an upset or two in this format. India then embark on a Japanese excursion – one that starts with their first ever T20 international against Japan (yes, you heard it right)! They then kick off their quest for a consecutive gold medal at the Asian games and considering that India have named almost a full-strength squad shows how serious they are about it. In the first week of October, India start their 5-match home series against West Indies, and we know that West Indies are not to be taken lightly in this format, especially with dew likely to play an important role in the series. India then started their multi-format tour of New Zealand with a 5-match T20 series. The world cup runners-up side, New Zealand, are a fantastic team, especially at home.

Let us now look, one by one, at the objectives India will be looking to achieve from this T20 season.

Results

In Ireland, in addition to a smart opposition, India were also beaten by conditions they were unused to. The struggle against conditions continued in England as well, hopefully, making the team management realise the importance of some time for acclimatisation in foreign conditions. The upcoming Afghanistan series should be a simpler assignment in that sense. India will be disappointed if they do not win this series 3-0. The one-off T20i against Japan is more important from a diplomatic relations perspective, rather than an actual contest. The Asian games in Japan following this match has high optics associated and India would not want to settle for anything less than the gold medal.

In the home series against West Indies, India would want to win without much trouble. Many West Indian players will be in good form on the back of strong performances in franchise cricket, and India should be particularly wary of their power hitters, given the dew factor and the small grounds.

The New Zealand series is expected to be the most challenging one of these assignments. Over their last few tours to that country, India have performed well in T20s, and they should be expected to do that this time as well. However, given the conditions, the quality of the opposition and that India is a team in transition, a loss in this series should also not be too surprising. They will be expected to compete strongly in every match though.

The captain

First time in the history of cricket, an ICC trophy winning captain was dropped immediately after. Despite his successes as a captain, Suryakumar Yadav’s own batting form was indifferent for a while and unhelpfully for him, age was also not on his side. Shreyas Iyer‘s captaincy credentials in franchise cricket are compelling, and he seems to be a natural leader of men. His consistently strong performances with the bat and a leading from the front leadership style made it difficult for the selectors to look past him. Also, it would be naïve to say that social media narrative had no role behind his elevation.

The start to Iyer’s India captaincy stint though, could not have been more inauspicious. He was brought into the side as a captain and appointed ahead of some individuals who were more established in the team. To command the dressing room’s respect, merit the backing of the selectors and garner the love of the fans, he needs to start winning in his next few assignments. We will know when he feels confident and secure in his role from his body language, which will then start reflecting positively in his team selections and on-field decisions.

If the team does not achieve the desired results over the next couple of months, it is possible that the selectors might start looking at other options. At that stage, the likes of Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan or Tilak Varma might even start looking like more natural leadership choices. It is quite apparent that the next major goal for this team is the 2028 Olympics gold, and the board would not want to give too little settling in time to a new captain before such a high-stakes event.

The future core

As many as eight players were part of the final squads for both the 2024 and 2026 world cup winning sides. With Suryakumar’s international career looking practically over, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah are the most experienced players from that group. Both are generational talents, clutch players and have plenty of silverware to show, both at franchise and international levels. Considering how vital they are to Indian cricket and how prone they are to injuries, it should be sensible for them to focus on other formats. The idea should be to keep them fresh and ready for the 2027 ODI world cup, with T20s to be used only as a platform for proving their match fitness.

Of the remaining five players, Arshdeep Singh is the only one who is currently under 30 years of age. Along with Iyer and vice-captain Tilak, Arshdeep should certainly be a part of the future core, not least because of his proven track record as a T20 bowler. The fact that Axar Patel was replaced by Tilak as the vice-captain shows that the management is looking beyond Axar in their long-term plans. Despite being over 30 years of age, Axar and Shivam Dube should be able to deliver over the next three years at least. We will cover the Kuldeep Yadav dilemma in the next section of this piece.

That leaves us with the 2026 world cup player of the tournament, Sanju Samson. Even after a dream world cup and a strong IPL, his form has been iffy in the limited games he has played since. Team management’s constant tinkering with his place in the XI and his batting position has also not helped him. Project Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is still work-in-progress at the international level, but if Vaibhav starts delivering consistently, Sanju getting axed in favour of a younger option is quite possible. Indian selectors and team management, as is common knowledge now, have regularly given age as a reason for looking beyond certain players, provided they are not superstars attracting heavy crowds and strong viewership numbers.

In my opinion hence, besides Iyer, Tilak and Arshdeep, Abhishek Sharma and Kishan should form the rest of this core, based on their match-winning capabilities, consistent performances over a period and relatively young age.

An attacking spinner

Over the last couple of years, Varun Chakravarthy has been India’s number one T20 spinner. Top ranked in theICC rankings, his performances leading into the 2026 world cup were phenomenal, and he was consistently playing a crucial role in India’s series wins. Some time during the world cup though, he seemed to have lost his way. He had an average first half of the IPL and despite bouncing back in the second half, he looked like a shadow of the bowler he was. Injuries, fitness issues and age factor will make it difficult for him to retain his India spot for long.

Kuldeep is the other attacking spinner India has had, and I would even go on to say that he has been the world’s most complete all-format spin bowler in the last decade. He has been a fantastic performer and has been key to India’s successes over time. It is his mental strength, however, that has been questionable. Time and again we have seen him struggle when batters attack him successfully and he often finds it difficult to come back after one bad game. Though slightly better than Varun, his limited abilities with the bat and in the field also don’t help his case, making the team management consider all-rounder type options like Washington Sundar. I am not aware of the kinds of mentors Kuldeep has around him, but it will help him to have one. He can also consider having a personal mental strength coach.

Ravi Bishnoi is part of the squad for the Afghanistan series and the Asian games but considering that he lacks a good stock ball and ends up bowling even faster when attacked, he is more of a defensive option, in my view. Early signs suggest that Harsh Dubey is more of an all-rounder in the Axar mould and Manav Suthar is a classical left-arm spinner more suited to red ball cricket. Based on my observations, R Sai Kishore and Vipraj Nigam look like the next set of spinners India should invest in for this format. Only time will tell how that pans out.

A seam-bowling all-rounder

In Hardik’s absence, Shivam Dube has tried to play the role of the seam-bowling all-rounder with varying degrees of success. Both Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy have been named in the squad subject to fitness clearance. While they have both demonstrated quality and value on different occasions, they still need to put in some work to reduce the frequency of their injuries. If they manage to stay fit for most of the next 8-10 years, Reddy at number 6 and Rana at number 8 sounds like a tempting combination in the playing XI. As the 2028 Olympics will be held in the United States and the T20 world cup in the same year will be held down under, it makes sense to have more seam-bowling all-rounders in the team than spin-bowling ones.

Fast bowling stocks

In life beyond Bumrah, Arshdeep is the obvious leader of India’s T20 fast bowling. While Rana should continue to be part of the team, India desperately needs a more stable and fit fast bowling group in this format. Even though Prince Yadav’s talent is beyond doubt, it is still early days for him at the highest level. The board has also made an excellent call by officially naming Mayank Yadav, Kartik Tyagi and Mohsin Khan as official net bowlers for the upcoming Asian games. Significant steps need to be taken to nurture them. If they can largely stay injury free, this group should form the core of India’s T20 fast bowling.

As an exciting new T20 international season starts, a lot is at stake for the Indian men’s team. Being the world’s biggest T20 powerhouse with possibly the richest talent pipeline, it will be a tragedy for them if India do not continue to dominate T20 cricket at the world stage.

– Written by Ajitesh Mohan