BCCI likely to stick with the same squads for New Zealand series and T20 World Cup - Report

New Delhi: The BCCI's national selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, is expected to select the same squads for both the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, a BCCI source said as quoted by PTI on Friday.

Although the schedule for the global tournament is yet to be announced, the 20-team event is tentatively scheduled to begin on February 7. The ICC tournament rules require cricket boards to submit their final 15-member squad a month before the tournament begins. The selection committee will announce the team with an option to make changes until a specified cut-off date.

The same rule was in place too during the 2024 T20 World Cup held in the West Indies and USA, which the Men in Blue won under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. The T20I series against New Zealand will begin on January 21 and will be the last series before the T20 World Cup.

"With only 10 T20Is left before the T20 World Cup, you won't see many changes happening in the squad proper unless someone is ruled out due to any specific injury," a source familiar with the development told PTI on condition of anonymity.

"One of the biggest reasons being continuity and the 15 chosen for the series against the Black Caps won't be tinkered with because of the short turnaround time," he added.

It is expected that the T20I series against South Africa will be the last chance for the team management to check out a few players before the New Zealand games, which will be a warm-up for the World Cup. The New Zealand series will start with the three ODI matches on January 11.

The first ODI will be played in Vadodara, followed by Rajkot and Indore on January 14 and 18. The five T20I matches against the Blackcaps will be played in Nagpur (January 21), Raipur (January 23), Guwahati (January 25), Vizag (January) 28 and Trivandrum (January 31).