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Indian cricket is heading into one of its busiest stretches of 2026, with over 100 unique players currently present in the announced squad lists for assignments running through September and October. The current pool covers senior India, India A, India U19, India Women, India A Women and the Rest of India side, with the final figure still subject to change because the squads for India's upcoming New Zealand T20Is and India's women's series against Zimbabwe have not yet been announced.
The schedule is spread across international cricket, the Asian Games, Australia A tours, the Irani Cup and age-group cricket. India are simultaneously handling overlapping assignments, while the New Zealand T20Is begin on October 22 and India Women are scheduled to face Zimbabwe from October 16 to 28. Those two pending senior-team selections alone could push the final player count higher.
At a glance:
| Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Current unique Indian players in announced squad lists | 133 |
| Players who have been part of the September-October action | 134, including Varun Chakaravarthy |
| Current squad lists covered | 13 |
| Announced India-team matches in the September-October window | 36, including scheduled knockout-stage possibilities at the Asian Games |
| Expected final count | Could increase after the remaining New Zealand and Zimbabwe squads are announced |
| Current squad pool calculation | 193 squad places across the 13 current lists, reduced to 133 unique players after removing multiple appearances |
| Additional player | Varun Chakaravarthy is counted separately because he already played against Afghanistan before his squad withdrawal |
India Men's Team: Players in Action Across Asian Games, West Indies and New Zealand series
India's senior men's setup is split across several simultaneous assignments. The Asian Games and Japan T20I squad has been separated from the West Indies ODI and T20I teams, while India A and the Rest of India side are also operating during the same period.
India vs Afghanistan T20I Squad
India's three-match Afghanistan T20I series is being played in Delhi on September 13, 15 and 17. The originally selected squad was subsequently changed when Harshit Rana was replaced by Yash Thakur, while Varun Chakaravarthy later suffered a side strain after the opening match and was ruled out of the remainder of the series.
Updated squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Yash Thakur.
Japan T20I & Asian Games Squad
India will play Japan in a historic T20I on September 22 before beginning their men's Asian Games campaign from the quarter-final stage on September 28. The latest squad has 14 players after Varun's withdrawal and Nitish Kumar Reddy's move to the West Indies ODI squad.
Squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur, Vipraj Nigam.
India's men's Asian Games campaign starts with a quarter-final on September 28, followed by the semi-finals on October 1 and the medal matches on October 3.
India vs West Indies ODI Squad
India's three-match ODI series against the West Indies starts on September 27 and runs through October 3. The matches will be played in Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and New Chandigarh. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to the ODI setup, while Auqib Nabi and Naman Dhir have received maiden ODI call-ups.
Full squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (VC), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Auqib Nabi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Naman Dhir.
India vs West Indies T20I Squad
The five-match T20I series begins on October 6 and runs until October 17, with matches in Lucknow, Ranchi, Indore, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Shreyas Iyer will captain the side, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain.
Full squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav.
India vs New Zealand T20I Squad: To Be Announced
India's five-match T20I series in New Zealand begins on October 22 in Christchurch. The first four matches fall within the September-October window, on October 22, October 24, October 27 and October 30, while the fifth T20I is scheduled for November 1.
India Women's Team: Players in Action Across September and October
The senior women's team is also involved in the September-October period, with the 2026 Asian Games beginning in September. India enter the women's cricket competition as defending Asian Games champions.
India Women's Asian Games Squad
India's updated 15-member squad includes Pratika Rawal in place of the injured Jemimah Rodrigues. Rawal was subsequently confirmed as Rodrigues' replacement for the Asian Games after initially replacing her in the Asia Cup squad.
Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), G. Kamalini (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.
India's women's campaign begins against Japan on September 18, with the semi-finals scheduled for September 20 and the bronze-medal match and final on September 22.
India Women vs Zimbabwe: Squad Yet to Be Announced
The BCCI has confirmed that India Women will host Zimbabwe Women for a six-match white-ball series in October, comprising three T20Is and three ODIs. The T20Is will be played in Raipur, while the ODIs will be held in Baroda. The series is scheduled from October 16 to October 28, but India's squad has not yet been announced.
India A Men: Full Squads for Australia A Series
India A will face Australia A in a five-match series in Puducherry, consisting of two multi-day matches and three one-day games. The series begins on September 22 and concludes on October 11.
Four-Day Squad
Aman Mokhade, Ayush Pandey, Devdutt Padikkal (C), Sai Sudharsan (VC), Yash Rathod, Shaik Rasheed, Kumar Kushagra (WK), Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Tushar Deshpande, Anshul Kamboj, Praful Hinge, N Jagadeesan (WK), Nachiket Bhute, V Vyshak*.
One-Day Squad
Priyansh Arya, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (VC), Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Rajat Patidar, Kumar Kushagra (WK), Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Arshin Kulkarni, Arshad Khan, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Gurjapneet Singh, Yash Thakur.
The two multi-day matches are scheduled for September 22-25 and September 29-October 2, followed by one-day games on October 6, 9 and 11.
India A Women: Full Squads for Australia A Series
India A Women are involved in a seven-match multi-format assignment against Australia A Women. The tour started on September 12 and concludes with the four-day match from September 29 to October 2.
T20 Squad
Anushka Sharma (C), Sayali Satghare (VC), Vrinda Dinesh, Sujata Dey, Tejal Hasabnis, Nikki Prasad, Shipra Giri (WK), Shweta Sehrawat, Uma Chetry (WK), Tanuja Kanwer, Minnu Mani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, Shabnam Shakeel, Simran Dil Bahadur.
One-Day Squad
Yastika Bhatia (C) (WK), Anushka Sharma (VC), Vrinda Dinesh, Priya Punia, Tanisha Singh, Tejal Hasabnis, Nikki Prasad, Uma Chetry (WK), Minnu Mani, Amandeep Kaur, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare, Jintimani Kalita, Shabnam Shakeel, Akshita Bhagat.
Four-Day Squad
Yastika Bhatia (C) (WK), Anushka Sharma (VC), Shubha Satheesh, Priya Punia, Tanisha Singh, Tejal Hasabnis, Nikki Prasad, Mamata Madiwala (WK), Sushree Dibyadarshini, Shuchi Upadhyay, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare, Jintimani Kalita, Shabnam Shakeel, Akshita Bhagat
India U19 Men: Full Squads for Australia U19 Series
India U19 will host Australia U19 in a five-match series comprising three one-day games and two multi-day fixtures. The one-day matches are scheduled in Rajkot, while the second multi-day fixture will be played in Ahmedabad.
The squads were subsequently updated after Rohit Yadav was withdrawn because of an age discrepancy, with Aryan Savsani replacing him in the one-day squad and Tanmay Baloda replacing him in the multi-day squad.
One-Day Squad
Lakshya Raichandani (C), Yashbardhan Chauhan (VC), Rajat Baghel (WK), Aaryavir Sehwag, V.K. Vineet, Kushagra Ojha, Arjun Rajput, Manal Chauhan, Anvay Dravid (WK), V. Yashveer, Shavin Vinodh, Mohit Ulva, Chigurupati Venkata, Kavya Patel, Aryan Savsani.
Four-Day Squad
Yashbardhan Chauhan (C), Lakshya Raichandani (VC), Sagar Virk, Kushagra Ojha, Manal Chauhan, Kush Patel, Manav Krishna (WK), Abhipray Biswas (WK), Ishan Om, Ayaan Akram, Pranav Ragavendra, Priyanshu Singh, Mohit Ulva, Aryan Yadav, Tanmay Baloda.
The one-day matches are scheduled for September 18, 21 and 23. The first multi-day game runs from September 27-30, while the second is scheduled from October 5-8.
Rest of India Squad for Irani Cup 2026
The Rest of India side will face Ranji Trophy champions Jammu & Kashmir in the Irani Cup from October 1 to 5. Rishabh Pant has been named captain, with Sarfaraz Khan as vice-captain.
Full squad: Rishabh Pant (C, WK), Sanat Sangwan, Shikhar Mohan, Sudip Gharami, Sarfaraz Khan (VC), Smaran Ravichandran, Manav Suthar, Saransh Jain, Akash Deep*, Mukesh Kumar, Mukesh Choudhary, Aryan Juyal (WK), Aryan Pandey, Anukul Roy, Ayush Doseja.
The match will be played against Jammu & Kashmir, the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy champions.
How the 133-Player Count Was Calculated
The 133 figure is a deduplicated squad count, rather than a simple addition of every squad's 15 places.
There are currently 13 squad lists relevant to the announced September-October assignments. Most contain 15 players, while the updated Japan/Asian Games squad and Afghanistan squad have 14 players after recent changes.
Across those lists, there are 193 squad places. Many players appear in two or more squads because of overlapping assignments. For example, Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi feature in multiple senior men's squads.
After removing every duplicate name, the current announced squad pool comes to 133 unique players.
There is one important addition when discussing players who have actually been involved in the September-October action. Varun Chakaravarthy played the first Afghanistan T20I before being ruled out of the remaining matches and the Asian Games. He is therefore not in the current squad pool, but he has already been in action during the period. That takes the broader September-October action count to 134 players.
October Could Push the Number Even Higher: Upcoming India Squads Yet to Be Announced
The 133-player figure is not a final count for the entire two-month period. India's five-match T20I series against New Zealand begins on October 22 in Christchurch. The next three matches are on October 24, October 27 and October 30, while the final game is scheduled for November 1. Therefore, four New Zealand T20Is fall inside the October window.
India Women will host Zimbabwe Women for three T20Is and three ODIs in October. The T20Is will be played in Raipur and the ODIs in Baroda, with the series scheduled from October 16 to 28. The India Women's squad is yet to be announced.
The current player count therefore represents only the squads announced so far. Once the New Zealand and Zimbabwe squads are released, new names could be added to the 133-player pool.
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