Several players who defeated Australia to reach the semi-finals are no longer part of Team India

Having lost the ODI series against Australia in their backyard, India’s next target is to win the T20 series against the host nation. For the record, the Men in Blue have an impressive win tally against the Aussies in T20, having won 20 of 32 matches since the format began. In fact, the last game played between the two sides was also won by India.

However, the squad for the upcoming series is very different from the one that had defeated Australia in the Super Eight of the ICC 2024 T20 World Cup and eventually lifted the World Cup trophy.

Ahead of the first game, let us look at the players who were in the 2024 World Cup squad versus those in the squad for the upcoming T20 series against Australia.

Differences via numbers

The new squad for the Australia series has dropped eight players from the 2024 World Cup-winning squad. Nine new players have come in, whereas seven players were in the 2024 squad and are still part of the 2025 squad.

Out of the squad

From 2024, the players who have not been picked for the upcoming series are Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohd. Siraj.

For the record, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja have retired from T20 cricket, so they were not selected.

New addition

In the 2025 squad for the Australia series, the players who have come in are Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jitesh Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, and Washington Sundar. Last year at the World Cup, Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh were on the bench.

Retained players

The eight players who have been retained from the 2024 World Cup-winning squad are Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Sanju Samson. After Rohit Sharma’s retirement, Suryakumar Yadav has been selected as the full-time captain of the T20 side.

This series will be a test for Suryakumar Yadav. Even though he recently guided the team to the Asia Cup title, there have been questions regarding his batting. The player, known for his unorthodox batting and fondly called "Mr. 360", has not been hitting hard or fast. Therefore, Surya not only needs to win the series but also needs to score hefty runs.

Performers in the last clash

In the last T20 match between India and Australia in the 2024 World Cup, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Hardik Pandya were the star performers with the bat, whereas in the bowling department, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh were the major wicket-takers. Apart from Sharma and Pandya, responsibility naturally falls on the four retained players to repeat the feat they achieved last June.