Former India coach Abhishek Nayar has shared two changes in India’s playing XI for their T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan. He also added that Kuldeep Yadav could be in the team, considering he was going through in the practice session as well.

During an interaction on JioHotstar, Nayar said, “It’s a very easy and straightforward answer for me. At the start, the team was playing football, and Kuldeep Yadav was taking catches. That gives you a message that Kuldeep Yadav will probably play, and he should play as well because he will be an extremely dangerous bowler on this pitch and this ground size.”

“When Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav bowl together between the seventh and the 14th over, they will not only stop runs but take wickets as well. You want two wicket-taking options, especially against these Pakistan batters,” Nayar shared.

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However, Abhishek Nayar added that Abhishek Sharma looked energetic in Team India’s practice session before their T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan.

“When you come to the practice session, you see the energy in every player, and my focus was on Abhishek Sharma from the start. The energy was excellent. I was wondering how he would bat as he is playing after a long time and it’s a big match,” he said.

“However, based on what I saw, the way he played Varun Chakaravarthy in the nets, and the number of times he hit the ball into the stands, it seems like these are good signs for India because he is fit and raring to go. It didn’t seem like even for once that he hadn’t been playing for such a long time. The coach will be satisfied that his player and his bat are both in form,” Abhishek Nayar concluded.

Abhishek Nayar’s India playing 11 for Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026 match:

Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah