T20 World Cup 2026: Why is Abhishek Sharma not playing in India vs Namibia?

India are batting first in Match No. 18 of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 against Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, for a mouthwatering Group A encounter. Meanwhile, star opening batter Abhishek Sharma is missing from India’s Playing XI for this match. India made one more change to their line-up, with a fit-again Jasprit Bumrah returning.

Toss Update

Namibia won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Namibians chose to do so, keeping in mind the dew that might kick in at the Kotla deck as the match progresses into the second half. The Men in Blue lost the toss, but they do not bother losing the tosses as long as the results are going in their favour.

Why did Abhishek Sharma miss out on playing in India vs Namibia, Match 18?

The main reason that the opening batter is missing from action in the ongoing clash is a stomach infection that had kept him under hospitalisation for a few days. The food poisoning has taken a hit on Abhishek’s plans for a game or two, and thus, India called in Sanju Samson to open alongside Ishan Kishan. Namibia also made a couple of changes, bringing in Ben Shikongo and Malan Kruger to replace Leicher and Myburgh.

What did the captains say?

Suryakumar Yadav, India captain

We were looking to bat first. Very happy with it. As long as we are losing the toss and winning the game, we are fine with it. It’s a big tournament and this dew is going to be a big factor, but when you bat first and go out and defend, I think it gives you a lot of confidence. It’s a very good wicket. Hopefully, batters go out, enjoy themselves. Abhishek is still not fine, he will miss a game or two. Sanju comes in, similar batter, explosive. Bumrah comes in for Siraj.

Gerhard Erasmus, Namibia captain

We are going to have a bowl. We think tt is a very, very good flat cricketing surface, from a statistics and dew point of view it is the right thing to do. It is about tightening our skillset. Looks like a good wicket, try and chase it in the second half. That’s why we do it, that’s why we play cricket, to entertain. We have two changes – we are bringing in Shikongo coming in and an extra batter in Kruger.

IND vs NAM: Playing XIs

India

Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy

Namibia

Louren Steenkamp, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, Zane Green(w), Ruben Trumpelmann, Malan Kruger, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, Max Heingo