India vs West Indies T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 Predicted Playing 11: Rinku Singh OUT, Sanju Samson IN, Kuldeep Yadav may…
Rinku Singh, who lost his father Khanchand Singh last week, is unlikely to return to playing 11 for T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 match vs West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Abhishek Sharma with head coach Gautam Gambhir at a training session in Kolkata on Saturday. (Photo: IANS)
India vs West Indies T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8: Team India face West Indies in their second 'do-or-die' contest of the T20 World Cup 2026 in one week. The winner of the Super 8 match between India and West Indies will march straight into the semifinal to face England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. While India are coming into the clash full of confidence after bouncing back with 72-run win over Zimbabwe, the Windies were hammered by nine wickets by runaway leaders South Africa.
Suryakumar Yadav's India are unlikely to tinker much with the winning combination. Batter Rinku Singh was bereaved a day after India's win over Zimbabwe with his father Khanchand Singh passing away after long battle with liver cancer on Friday. Rinku joined the Team India squad at his second 'home' Kolkata late on Saturday evening but is unlikely to feature in the Super 8 match against the Windies.
With Rinku sitting the game out, India are likely to stick with Sanju Samson as the opener with Abhishek Sharma with Ishan Kishan batting in the number three position. Samson got India off to a flying start against Zimbabwe in Chennai and also ensured that the opposition are not able to open the bowling with an off-spinner as was the case with two southpaws at the top earlier.
"It's obviously a very sad time when something like this happens and he hasn't joined the team yet and he'll continue to get the love and support from everyone in the group. He's planned to join us later this evening and like I said we just need to get around him and help him through this very difficult time," India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said about Rinku Singh at the pre-match press conference in Kolkata on Saturday.
India may be tempted to play chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav at the Eden Gardens but with West Indies fielding a long and powerful batting order stretching up to Romario Shepherd, an extra spinner at Eden Gardens will be a big risk.
For West Indies, Shimron Hetmyer (221 runs) is 10 away from surpassing Marlon Samuels (230 in 2012) to record the highest score by a West Indies batter in a single edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Hetmyer's 17 sixes in the ongoing edition is the joint second most by any batter in a single edition of the competition (Sahibzada Farhan 18 in 2026).
The Windies coach Daren Sammy kept the option of bringing back left-arm spinner Akeal Hossain into the playing 11 at the Eden Garden, which has fond memories of his team as they won the 2016 T20 World Cup title here.
"Of course, every time we come to Eden Gardens, it brings back good memories. Do I tell you my 11? No, I will not. But I could tell you all my soldiers, they're ready for battle tomorrow when we call upon. We'll have to wait till the toss for the 11," WI coach Daren Sammy said at the pre-match press conference in Kolkata on Sunday.
India vs West Indies ICC T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8 match no 52 Predicted 11
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
West Indies: Brandon King, Shai Hope (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph
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