T20 World Cup: India is the world's top ranked T20I team. Can this translate into a successful title defence?

Nothing succeeds like success. The Indian men’s T20I team is a living example of that as they have gone from strength to strength after capturing the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.

That World Cup win was a defining triumph for a team that long yearned success in a big ICC tournament but seemed to stumble at the final stages. Before June 2024, India’s wait for a World Cup had stretched for almost 13 years, the wait for a T20 World Cup had been even longer—India had not claimed the biennial trophy since the inaugural 2007 event.

Still smarting from the heartbreaking 2023 ODI World Cup loss, where a dominant Indian team was brought down by old nemesis Australia in the final, the Men in Blue were on a mission. Even as cricket broke new ground as a World Cup was held on American soil (the US jointly hosted the event with the West Indies) for the very first time, India became the first team to win the T20 World Cup without losing a single match. In a close final, India overcame a few nervy moments before defeating South Africa by seven runs.

Once the match was won, India’s bravado melted away, laying bare the raw emotions that had fuelled their campaign. The championship healed hurt pride, washed away over a decade of disappointment.

It was crowning glory for the team, and for the two stalwarts who had shaped and sustained the team for over 10 years: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. While it was the first World Cup triumph for captain Sharma, it was a full-circle moment for Kohli, who was a rising star during India’s 2011 win and had carried Sachin Tendulkar on his shoulders for a victory lap around the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This time, it was Kohli, who was carried on teammates’ shoulders in Barbados. The two men decided to quit at the top, announcing their retirement from the shortest format of the game after the tournament to infuse an end-of-the-era glow to the triumph.

Having shed the emotional baggage, the Indian team, without Sharma and Kohli, and under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, has picked up the baton and run with it. They have forged one of the most dominant runs in T20 cricket, a format that evens the playing field more than any other because of its mercurial nature.

Since the 2024 World Cup, India has not lost a single bilateral series, nor tournament in the T20 format. From June 2024 till 31 January 2026, when they decisively won the five-match T20I series against New Zealand 4-1, India had piled on 33 wins while losing only six matches.

India head into the 2026 T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka from 7 February to 8 March, as the overwhelming home favourites. But they are also chasing two firsts at the championship—of becoming the first team to defend the T20 World Cup title, and the first home team to capture the trophy. The undisputed World No.1 in ICC rankings in T20Is, topping the charts with a rating of 273, India are the team to beat.

WEALTH OF TALENT

When the team for the upcoming World Cup was announced in December, one of the biggest surprises was the exclusion of Shubman Gill. That India’s star batter and Test and ODI captain could not find a place in the line-up was a testament to India’s depth of talent in the shortest format. “If India fielded two teams for the T20 World Cup, both could finish in the top 4,” Simon Doull said on Star Sports after the third T20I against New Zealand on 25 January.

And in the run up to the Cup, the Indian team has been shaping up well. Ishan Kishan, who returned to the squad after over two years, made an instant impact as he scored a 32-ball 76 in the second T20I against New Zealand on 23 January. In the same match, captain Yadav batted into form with a quickfire 82, as he, in the company of Kishan, helped India chase down a target of 209 in just 15.2 overs.

Though the Indian team is studded with star players, there will be a fair bit of attention on World Cup debutant Abhishek Sharma. The left-hander is in punishing form and registered the second-fastest T20I half-century in the third T20I against New Zealand as he brought up his 50 in just 14 balls. The 25-year-old is currently the No.1 T20I batter in ICC men’s rankings.

While the top order is stacked, what gives India the edge is the quality of its all-purpose players—Axar Patel, Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya. Pandya, especially, lives for the big moments and can turn the match on its head with the ball or the bat, as he did multiple times during the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Bowlers can seem more like side-pieces in this game designed for the big batting hits, but the one man who has consistently held his own against a variety of opponents in a plethora of conditions is Jasprit Bumrah. One of the most successful bowlers in T20s, Bumrah can unsettle with his accuracy and is often devastating in death overs. In Indian conditions, there is inevitably a stress on spin options, and India will rely on Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav to produce the goods.

“When you look at variety, players at the right positions and balance, India can defend this title,” Ravi Shastri told the ICC Review podcast this week. “Man to man, current form, match fitness, amount of cricket they’ve played in recent times, makes them clear favourites.”

CUP OF HOPE

Even as Test cricket remains the bastion of traditional cricket powers, T20 has taken the game to the masses. A prime example of that was Italy, the football giant, qualifying for a cricket World Cup for the very first time. The Azzurri are in a field of 20 teams that are vying for the title this time around.

India has been placed in Group A along with the US, Pakistan, the Netherlands and Namibia. They will open their campaign on 7 February against the US and take on arch-rivals Pakistan on 15 February in Colombo (which may be a no show if Pakistan carries through with its threat to boycott the match).

The true challenge to India’s might, however, may come from familiar foes Australia, South Africa and England. South Africa will be especially hungry not just to avenge the defeat in the 2024 final but also to prove that they are a transformed side. Last year, the Proteas made a crucial breakthrough as they won the World Test Championship to claim their first world title in any format, and allow some respite from the “chokers” tag. The biggest hurdle, Shastri believes, that can trip this Indian team is the pressure of playing a home World Cup.

“T20 cricket is a lottery,” he added. “When you’re playing at home, there is pressure and it comes from nowhere. You have a bad 15 minutes, a bad 10 minutes in a T20 game, it can decide the outcome of the game.”

The scars of a defeat in a home World Cup are all too raw. Will this all-conquering team banish those demons as well?

Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.