The stage is set for game 3 of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. Defending champions team India lock horns with the USA at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The two sides will hope to get off to a good start to their World Cup campaigns, and it could be interesting to see how they fare in the upcoming clash. The World Cup 2026 has gotten off to a subpar start for the defending champions, as the Indian team lost the toss in Wankhede and the USA elected to bowl first in the game.
Ahead of the start of the game, one of the biggest talking points has been star batter Sanju Samson's place in the playing XI. Sanju was picked in India's squad for the T20 World Cup but is not featuring for the side in their first game of the competition. In his place, in-form batter Ishan Kishan has been given the nod. One of the biggest reasons for dropping Sanju from the playing XI could be the form of both Kishan and Samson in recent games. While Samson has witnessed a dip in his form, Ishan Kishan has been impeccable for the defending champions of late.
Kishan’s brilliance in recent matches could prove to be fruitful for team India. With the star batter getting his opportunity in the opening T20 World Cup clash, it could be interesting to see how he fares against the USA.
Suryakumar Yadav’s take at the toss
With India losing the toss, the side’s skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, came forward and revealed that the Men in Blue were looking to bat first anyway and revealed the team composition for the clash against the USA as well.
“We were looking to bat first. It looks good here. I played a lot of cricket here. There's a wind around as well, so I don't think there'll be a lot of dew later on. Of course there'll be a little bit of pressure. We can't run away from that fact, but then new tournament, we want to play the same way how we've been playing in the last one or two years and continue the same thing,” Suryakumar Yadav said at the toss.
India Playing XI: Ishan Kishan (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
USA Playing XI: Andries Gous(w), Saiteja Mukkamalla, Monank Patel(c), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Shubham Ranjane, Harmeet Singh, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Ali Khan, Saurabh Netravalkar
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