Reigning T20 World Cup champions Team India are on a six-match winning streak in T20I cricket with back-to-back 3-0 whitewash against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan respectively. It will be interesting to see if Shreyas Iyer’s side experiment with their playing 11 by resting some first-choice players ahead of the Asian Games 2026 campaign.
Rajasthan Royals star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wasn’t selected in any of the three T20I matches against Afghanistan earlier this month after ending the Zimbabwe T20I series with the ‘Player of the Series’ award. With Sanju Samson scoring back-to-back fifties in the last two T20I games, Sooryavanshi is unlikely to regain his place in the playing 11 anytime soon.
Samson’s opening partner Abhishek Sharma has been in sizzling form with the bat in the series against Afghanistan. Abhishek ended up with 229 runs in the three-match T20I series with a 37-ball century in the third game.
In the bowling department, pacer Arshdeep Singh was rested for third T20I last week and Yash Thakur took his place but the Punjab Kings fast bowler will be expected to return to India’s playing 11. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been withdrawn from the Indian T20I squad for the Asian Games 2026 and will be playing in the ODI series against West Indies starting later this week.
In Reddy’s place, Washington Sundar will be expected to return to the side while Axar Patel and Shivam Dube will be the two other all-rounders. As off-spinner Varun Chakravarthy is ruled out of the Asian Games 2026 with a side strain, Ravi Bishnoi will be lone specialist spinner in the line-up.
For hosts Japan, players like Wataro Miyauchi has played 36 T20Is till date but none against top Test nations. Their captain Kendel Fleming has also had a taste of T20 franchise league with the MAX60 tournament.
Miyauchi and Ibrahim Takahashi spent time training with a Lanka Premier League franchise while Shoma Sugaya-Slater and Reo Sakurano-Thomas travelled to South Africa through the Japan Cricket Association’s relationship with the Titans franchise.
India vs Japan 2026 One-off T20I match Predicted 11
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh
Japan: Wataru Miyauchi, Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake, Kendel Fleming (C), Benjamin Ito, Ibrahim Takahashi, Alester Fleming, Declan Suzuki, Reo Sakurano, Makoto Taniyama, Kohei Kubota, Charlie Hara-Hinze