Former Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara picked his preferred Team India playing XI for the first T20I against the West Indies in Lucknow on Tuesday, October 6 (via Star Sports YouTube channel). The Men in Blue will take on the West Indies in five T20Is, culminating on October 17.
Surprisingly, Pujara excluded dashing opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi despite the youngster opening in India’s Asian Games 2026 triumph. Instead, he opted for the tried-and-tested Sanju Samson-Abhishek Sharma pairing at the top.
Pujara picked the in-form Ishan Kishan at No.3, followed by skipper Shreyas Iyer at No.4. India’s batting star from the Asian Games final, Tilak Varma, came in at No.5, followed by batting all-rounder Shivam Dube at No.6.
Pujara had another pace-bowling batting all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy, at No.7, followed by spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel at No.8.
The former No.3 went for Kuldeep Yadav as the second spinner at No.9, followed by the pace-bowling duo of Prince Yadav and Arshdeep Singh to round off his playing 11.
Apart from Suryavanshi, Naman Dhir, Ravi Bishnoi and Mayank Yadav miss out from the Indian squad for the West Indies T20Is in Pujara’s playing 11.
Cheteshwar Pujara’s Team India playing 11 for the 1st T20I vs West Indies
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh
Team India suffered a surprising defeat in their last T20I series against the West Indies
Team India have dominated the T20I format over the past three years, with back-to-back T20 World Cup titles. However, they surprisingly lost their previous T20I series against the West Indies in 2023.
The Men in Blue suffered close losses in the first two matches, before bouncing back to win two straight and level the five-match series at 2-2. However, the Caribbean side stunned the visitors in the series finale, chasing down 166 in 18 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Despite the series loss, India have won five of their last six T20I series against the West Indies. They also upstaged the West Indies in the 2026 T20 World Cup, which was the most recent T20I meeting between the sides.
India chased down 196 in the final over to advance to the semifinal.
Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran
