Vaibhav Sooryavanshi set to be picked for Team India:5 changes that could be seen in Men in Blue in build-up to Asian Games, T20 WC

The changes might be ringing in for Team India in the T20I format. India, in March this year, won the T20 World Cup for a record third time, but the competition for spots has heated up, especially after the IPL 2026, which saw a number of players stake their claim. It is not natural for a successful team to undergo changes after winning a World Cup, right? While disturbing a victorious combination might not be wise, the same does not apply to Team India. Looking ahead to the LA28 Olympics and the T20 World Cup, both in the same year (2028) and with some seriously good players waiting in the wings, here are five major changes that can be seen in the side in the shortest format. 1) Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to be selected in Team India Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the most-talked-about player in cricketing circles today, might very well receive his senior Team India cap after a record-breaking IPL 2026 campaign. At just 15 years of age, Sooryavanshi took home almost all major batting laurels in the season. According to ESPNCricinfo, Sooryavanshi is set to earn a Team India call-up. With Sooryavanshi coming into India’s T20I team, the management would be handed with fresh headaches. Who will he replace? Abhishek Sharma or Sanju Samson. Samson surely has made himself undroppable after winning Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup. Abhishek, on his part, might have been inconsistent, but the fact that he remains the No. 1-ranked T20I batter is enough to show why he is a must for selection. 2) Shreyas Iyer to become India’s new T20I captain Reports have run rampant over the past few days about this major development in India’s T20I team. Shreyas Iyer, after impressing with his captaincy on plenty of occasions, is finally set to become a skipper for the Men in Blue. The year 2024 saw Shreyas, the captain, win both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and the IPL. Iyer impressed with his captaincy in 2025, leading the Punjab Kings to the IPL final after a 10-year wait. This season, too, his captaincy skills were on show despite Punjab Kings’ dramatic turnaround to miss out on a playoff spot. The casualty? Suryakumar Yadav. Despite winning the T20 World Cup, Surya might be sacked from his leadership role. India’s ‘Mr 360’, as we know him, has not done enough to justify his spot in Team India, with an unimpressive T20 World Cup campaign and IPL 2026. Surya’s slump will reportedly see him dropped from India’s T20I team, with Shreyas the batter and captain, taking his spot. 3) Tilak Varma’s elevation to vice-captaincy One of the most consistently performing players in India’s T20I setup, Tilak Varma, is reportedly set to be rewarded with vice-captaincy. The left-hander has excelled in different positions in the batting order, and one of his memorable performances in T20Is was his splendid 69*, taking India to a win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup final. The left-hander also did impressively at number five at the T20 World Cup. That Tilak was being looked at as a leader can be evident from the fact that he will be leading India A in an ODI Tri-series in Sri Lanka. 4) Shubman Gill’s T20I return on the cards? Shubman Gill being dropped from India’s T20I setup right before the T20 World Cup earlier this year might have come as a surprise to some. But not to all, as his performances in the top order did not justify his selection. But it will be fair to say that Gill has reinvented his T20 game, which will not be wrong. In IPL 2026, the elegant right-hander scored 732 runs in 16 matches with an impressive strike rate of 163.02. His performances at the top of the order alongside Sai Sudharsan were primarily one of the reasons why GT made it to the final before coming up short. 5) Bowling changes? In terms of bowling changes, Mohammed Siraj might mark his return to the India T20I setup, especially after his IPL performance. The right-arm pacer was part of Team India’s 2024 WC winning squad. However, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh were part of the team in 2026, so Siraj was not included in the team. Although he was called in at the last moment, he played just one game against the USA, picking up three wickets for 29 runs. Even in the IPL 2026, he continued his great form with the ball, taking 19 wickets in 17 matches at an economy of 9.06. So there are chances that he will mark his return to the T20 team after stamping authority in the league, playing a crucial role in GT’s rise mid-season.