Group A preview: India target title defence

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 starts here, with Pakistan taking on the Netherlands in the tournament opener, and Group A no doubt looms as pivotal.

In shades of déjà vu, three key teams are grouped as they were in the last iteration of this tournament; India, Pakistan and USA. And many fans will remember what co-hosts the United States managed to do against Pakistan in 2024.

India are a popular pick as tournament favourites, coming off scintillating form that has seen them win 48 of their last 56 T20I games dating back to October 2023. And more recently, producing a dominant series win against New Zealand.

They have found unprecedented consistency despite the format’s high-variance nature, off the back of the country’s rich talent stocks, but also squad-wide buy-in of the team’s recent philosophical pivot where they have successfully implemented an immensely aggressive approach.

India are also hoping to do something they haven’t done before and go back-to-back.

So can any of these teams keep pace with the defending champions?

GROUP A TEAMS

India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia

ONE PLAYER TO WATCH

Abhishek Sharma

It’s difficult to spotlight anyone other than the ICC’s top-ranked T20I batter.

Abhishek is considered the best Powerplay batter at the tournament, which is even more pertinent given his team’s tactical adjustment to prioritise power-hitting and maximising boundary-finders in the early overs.

India’s entire top order is empowered to swing hard from ball one and nobody encapsulates that philosophy better than the 25-year-old.

GROUP A SQUADS

India: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh

USA: Monank Patel (c), Jessy Singh, Andries Gous, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milind Kumar, Shayan Jahangir, Saiteja Mukkamala, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Shadley Van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan, Mohammad Mohsin, Shubham Ranjane

Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Louren Steenkamp, Malan Kruger, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo, JC Balt, Dylan Leicher, WP Myburgh, Max Heingo. Reserve: Alexander Volschenk

Netherlands: Scott Edwards (c), Colin Ackermann, Noah Croes, Bas de Leede, Aryan Dutt, Fred Klaassen, Kyle Klein, Michael Levitt, Zach Lion-Cachet, Max O'Dowd, Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Saqib Zulfiqar

Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq