Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in line for India debut, BCCI shortlists batter for Asian Games 2026
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (Source: Getty Images)
Published - 30 May 2026, 03:54 PM• Read time - 2 mins
After a record-breaking Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) campaign, Vaibhav Sooryvanshi’s international debut could soon turn into reality. The teenage batting sensation has been included in the 30-man longlist of probables submitted to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for the Asian Games 2026 cricket event.
However, India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and ODI and Test skipper Shubman Gill are the two notable absentees from the list. BCCI will likely pick two separate T20I teams as the Asian Games will run parallel to India’s home series against West Indies.
The men’s cricket event at the quadrennial event will take place between September 24 and October 3, while the West Indies home series, which comprises three ODIs and five T20Is, will run from September 27 to October 17.
With Gill set to lead the team in ODIs, his name has been omitted from the Asian Games probables. As far as Suryakumar Yadav is concerned, the World Cup-winning captain is reportedly not in the scheme of things for the Olympic Games 2028 and the next T20 World Cup the same year.
Gaikwad and Bumrah also named in the list
According to Sportstar, in his absence, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma are likely candidates to take up the leadership duties. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also finds himself in the list, while Harshit Rana, who’s rehabilitating after a knee surgery, has also been included.
Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad has also made the cut, despite a poor IPL 2026 campaign. He led India to a gold medal finish in the previous edition of the Asian Games in 2023, played in Hangzhou.
India’s complete list submitted to IOA: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy, Anukul Roy, Ayush Badoni, , Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Vipraj Nigam Nigam, Harshit Rana, Yash Thakur, Washington Sundar.
