ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026: India vs USA - team analysis, strengths and weaknesses

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 will eventually reach its peak on the opening day when the defending champion and the host India take on the USA, who will also have some of the Indian origin players in their squad. India, which will look to rewrite history as the first host nation to win the 2020 World Cup, will have to go through the USA first, which last time had beaten a team like Pakistan.

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Current scenarios of the West Indies and Scotland

India, probably the most threatening T20I side in the world are coming into the tournament after thrashing New Zealand by 4-1 at home, and they then went on to defeat South Africa handsomely in their opening warm-up game as well.

Led by Suryakumar Yadav, the team looks very confident and has every department covered, but eventually it will depend on the team combination Gautam Gambhir and the captain want to go for. They have won 48 of their last 56 T20I games dating back to October 2023.

Read also: ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Squad of every nation.

On the other hand, the USA, which also has some Indian-origin players in their squad, faced a tough defeat against India-A in their first warm-up game. However, they will be confident after scoring 200 in the second innings against a decent India-A bowling line.

They will play New Zealand in their second warm-up game before facing India in their opening match at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Read also: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026: West Indies vs Scotland - team analysis, strengths and weaknesses.

Squad analysis - India vs USA

As I have already said, India are probably the most complete India side in the world at the moment. With Ishan Kishan in great form, we might see him opening the batting with Abhishek Sharma, who is one of the top batters in T20I cricket at the moment. This will leave someone like Sanju Sansan on the bench, which actually describes how strong the Indian squad is.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Hardik Pandya will be key to the batting order, while Axar Patel and Washington Sundar (if fit and available) will serve as the spin bowling all-rounder.

Jasprit Bumrah, the player of the series of the last T20 World Cup, will continue as probably the biggest threat to any batting lineup currently. Along with him, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and India's X Factors Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav will be key to India's success with the ball.

Read also: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan vs Netherlands - team analysis, strengths and weaknesses.

Mean Time USA also possesses some good cricketers who can showcase fighting spirit on the field. Captain Monank Patel has great potential as a T20I batter and has been doing great things for the associate nation.

Alongside him, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shubham Ranjane and Saiteja Mukkamalla possess the ability to strike the ball long too. Not to forget Saiteja currently is the 24th ranked ICC T20I batter in the world currently.

With someone like Saurabh Netravalkar, who played all of his cricket in Mumbai prior to moving to the USA, and Ali Khan, who can bowl over 140 km/hr alongside Harmeet Singh, who played under-19 World Cup for India, will be key if the USA wants to show some fight against the defending champions, India.

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.