India omit Hardik Pandya as squad named for home T20I series against West Indies

India on September 16, 2026 announced their squad for the five-match T20I series against the West Indies, which begins on 6 October, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya absent from the selection.

India are currently engaged in a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan and will travel to Japan for the Asian Games before returning for the West Indies tour; the T20I series starts days after the Asian Games conclude with a gold medal match. The announcement covers the contingent that will come back to India following the multi-sport event.

The squad named reads: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, and Mayank Yadav. The list includes two designated wicketkeepers, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remains in India’s plans, with the teenage batter continuing to be part of the national T20I setup after his recent international call-up.

Shreyas Iyer will captain the side with Tilak Varma named as his deputy. The selection retains a group of batters and bowlers intended to provide balance for the five-match series. The batting unit continues to have the same amount of flexibility and experience.

However, two of the major talking points will be absence of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Jasprit Bumrah is unavailable for the West Indies series because the Indian management want to manage his workload.

The West Indies T20Is begin on the 6th of October, days after the Asian Games conclude with a gold medal match, when the Shreyas Iyer-led Indian contingent will return to the country to contest the five-match series.