Asian Games 2026: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been rewarded for his incredible Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. Two of India’s biggest cricket stars, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav are not in the 30-man men’s cricket probables list for the 2026 Asian Games, which interestingly also features 15-year-old. Before the Asian Games, which are scheduled to be held in Aichi-Nagoya Japan from September 19 to October 4, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has handed over the longlist to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The reason behind Gill and Suryakumar’s exclusion is India’s packed overseas schedule. Also, the Asian Games cricket competition is on the same dates as India’s home white-ball series against the West Indies, so the selectors will have to come up with two different teams for these engagements.
India to send second team to Asian Games 2026?
The Asian Games 2026 are scheduled to take place from the 19th of September to the 4th of October. Meanwhile, the Indian team is scheduled to play the West Indies in a T20I series. The clash between the schedules of the two series would mean that India would send a second team to the Asian Games 2026. This could possibly be the reason for the Indian team sending a second-string side to Japan for the continental tournament. The second string squad would feature a new captain and possibly a new coach taking the place of Gautam Gambhir.
Asian Games 2026: Who will replace Suryakumar Yadav as captain of Indian team?
Among the list of 30 probable, there are multiple captaincy options. While the Indian team could go with the option of an experienced leader in Shreyas Iyer or Hardik Pandya, there is also an option for picking Rishabh Pant or Axar Patel. However, often these tournaments are looked at as grooming young players for the senior team. Keeping that in mind, Ishan Kishan, who stood as the stand-in captain for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2026, could be looked at as an option.
Asian Games 2026: Who will replace Gautam Gambhir as head coach of Indian team?
With the Indian team playing a T20I series simultaneously against the West Indies, it is expected that Gautam Gambhir will not be available to coach the team in the Asian Games 2026. With him absent from the squad, VVS Laxman could take up the responsibility of coaching the team. The former middle-order batter currently serves as the coach of the India A and the men’s U-19 team.
Asian Games 2026: India cricket squad
India Asian Games 2026 Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Ayush Badoni, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Vipraj Nigam, Harshit Rana, Yash Thakur, Washington Sundar
Pragun is a passionate cricket follower and writer who deeply loves the game. Having completed his education with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has an experience of almost two years in diverse fields. He is known for his statistical and analytical articles. Pragun tries to bring life to his articles by adding a layer of enthusiasm from the perspective of a hardcore fan. Apart from writing cricket articles, he sometimes appears on YouTube videos on a friend’s podcast.
