'Abhishek is going to be the key' - Harbhajan Singh predicts India's breakout star at T20 World Cup 2026
Harbhajan Singh at the launch of the fourth season of Legends 90 (Source: Legends90 media)
Published - 29 Dec 2025, 11:54 AM• Read time - 2 mins
As the countdown to the 10th iteration of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup begins, all eyes are on India as they gear up to defend their title.
Having registered an unbeaten run to the silverware in the previous edition, played in the USA and the Caribbean, the defending champions have set the ceiling high and aim to become the first outfit to win the marquee event on home soil.
However, for that to happen, the Men in Blue would need players from every department to step up and take centre stage with breathtaking performances.
Legendary India spinner Harbhajan Singh also believes that it would take multiple players to pull in the same direction for India to create history at home.
"Difficult for me to name one. Abhishek (Sharma) is gonna be the key from the top," Harbhajan Singh answered while responding to a question by Mr Cricket UAE at the sidelines of the launch of Legends90 season 4 on December 29. Hardik Pandya is someone who can win you games on his own. Suryakumar Yadav, even though he is not scoring runs, but I think his time is now, apna time aayega, Suryakumar Yadav ka time aayega (Suryakumar Yadav's time will come). Tilak (Varma) as well in the batting department.
"Bowling-wise, we've got (Jasprit) Bumrah, we've got Arsh (deep Singh), so it's an unbelievable bowling lineup. On any given day, if four to five guys perform, then Team India will be on top. So, I won't be able to name one player, but I'll pick many as all of them are match winners.
Suryakumar Yadav's form in question as India look to defend title
The India captain is going through a lean patch in T20Is. 2025 was a year to forget for Suryakumar as he could only rack up 218 runs in 21 games at an underwhelming strike rate of 123.16.
The 35-year-old couldn't even manage to breach the 50-run mark during the course of the entire calendar year. However, his overall numbers in the shortest format of the game make for a really good read, and therefore, he would like to take heart from his remarkable record and launch a successful defence of India's title.
