IND vs USA T20 World Cup 2026 Match No 3 Predicted Playing 11: Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav OUT, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma IN, Jasprit Bumrah to…
India vs USA T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India will begin their journey to defend their crown in the T20 World Cup 2026 in a Group A clash against USA at the Wankhede Stadium in Saturday. It is the third game of a triple-header opening day in the tournament.
World No 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma will be making his World Cup debut and he will have a new opening partner in Ishan Kishan, who sealed his spot in the playing 11 ahead of Sanju Samson after his explosive maiden T20I hundred against New Zealand last month. Kishan, who earned a spot in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad on the basis of his performances in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy 2025 and Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 for Jharkhand, solidified his billing with a 20-ball fifty in the warm-up game against South Africa earlier this week.
Tilak Varma, who missed the T20I series against New Zealand after undergoing an operation for abdominal issue last month, also proved his fitness in the couple of warm-up matches that he played for India ‘A’ and Team India last week and slides into the playing 11 as well. It means Sanju Samson will be consigned to the bench with Ishan Kishan taking over the wicketkeeping gloves from him.
Team India, however, have some injury concerns with all-rounder Harshit Rana ruled out of the tournament and replaced by Mohammed Siraj on the eve of their opening match against USA. “Team India pacer Harshit Rana has been ruled out of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after sustaining a knee injury during the warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on February 4th 2026. Following consultations with a specialist and subsequent scans, the BCCI medical team deemed him unfit to participate in the tournament. The team management wishes him a speedy recovery,” a BCCI statement on Harshit Rana read.
Jasprit Bumrah to miss out too
Jasprit Bumrah will also miss the opening match in Wankhede Stadium due to viral fever. According to a report in Indian Express, Siraj will coming into the playing 11 to replace Bumrah. The BCCI selectors and team management don’t want to risk Bumrah by pushing him too early.
India may also opt to bench chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and play world No 1 T20I bowler Varun Chakravarthy as the specialist spinner with Axar Patel as the spin-bowling all-rounder in the playing 11.
Meanwhile, for USA, Andries Gous is set to return to the top as wicketkeeper-opener after missing their last T20 match. Monank Patel’s side have experienced T20 batters in form of Milind Kumar, Shayan Jahangir and Shubham Ranjane and bowlers like Harmeet Singh and Saurabh Netravalkar – who can prove to be tricky prospects for Indian side.
Can’t stop, won’t stop!
Raring to repeat & defeat history, #TeamIndia are leaving no stone unturned ahead of their opening fixture
ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup 2026 #INDvUSA | Sat, Feb 7, 6 PM pic.twitter.com/z0vw5QlAsu
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 6, 2026
India vs USA ICC T20 World Cup 2026 Group A match no 3 Predicted 11
India: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakravarthy
USA: Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Shayan Jahangir, Monank Patel (c), Milind Kumar, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan