India cricket team: players, captains & team profile

Captains: read the format and series

For the New Zealand tour, BCCI’s 6 October 2026 T20I selection names Shreyas Iyer as captain and Tilak Varma as vice-captain. The separate 16 October selection names Shubman Gill for the first three ODIs and the Tests, with Iyer leading the fourth and fifth ODIs. These are tour appointments, not one captain for every India match.

New Zealand T20I squad · announced 6 October 2026

Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.

This is the original 16-player selection. On 23 October, BCCI ruled Kishan out of the second T20I and added Kumar Kushagra as cover for that match. That notice does not establish availability for later games. Check the individual scorecard for the confirmed XI.

Three formats, different selections

Tests allow up to two innings per side. ODIs normally give each team 50 overs, while T20Is give each side 20. A player selected for one format is not automatically in another squad; compare like-for-like statistics when following a player.

India A is a separate representative side. Its multi-day selection should not be read as the senior Test squad. For the November 2026 senior selections, Prasidh Krishna’s ODI inclusion and Rishabh Pant’s Test inclusion were subject to fitness clearance.

Milestones in India’s cricket history

India played its first Test in 1932 under C. K. Nayudu. Its first Test victory came against England in Chennai in 1951–52; a first overseas Test-series win followed in New Zealand in 1967–68. The 1983 World Cup added a defining limited-overs achievement.

At Wankhede on 2 April 2011, India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to win the ODI World Cup. India later won the 2024 T20 World Cup final by seven runs against South Africa, the 2025 Champions Trophy final by four wickets against New Zealand, and retained the T20 World Cup in 2026 with a 96-run final win over New Zealand.