IPL 2025 Might Decide India’s Openers For 2026 T20 World Cup

For the entirety of the past decade, ahead of every T20 World Cup, India had to worry about only one of the two opening slots as Rohit Sharma was a certainty. Rohit opened the batting for India in every T20 World Cup between 2014 and 2024, and heading into most of these editions, he was one of the first names on the team sheet. 

But Rohit has retired now, and so with just over a year left for the T20 World Cup 2026, India will have to do something they’ve not had to do in an eternity, which is zero-in on two openers. 

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that there is no paucity of options; the more the better, always. 

The bad news is that, well, there are SO MANY qualified individuals that it’s going to be impossible to zero-in on two. It’s one of those horrible situations where multiple deserved candidates will be missing out on selection because there simply is no space.

Here we look at the contenders as per the pecking order, and see what they might need to do / shouldn’t do in this IPL to give themselves the best shot of opening the batting come the T20WC.

Abhishek Sharma

Unquestionably the front-runner for the opener’s slot, and is right up there at the top of the pecking order. Abhishek Sharma is an intent-merchant like no other in the country, and that alone helps him stand out. 

Additionally, what makes him the undisputed number one is how he’s grabbed his chances, having already struck two T20I tons. Put simply, Abhishek is the most explosive opener in the country, by some distance, and he is just the kind of batter that head coach Gautam Gambhir loves. 

However, the competition for spots in India is such that Abhishek still runs the risk of falling behind in the pecking order if he has a stinker of an IPL 2025. 

He doesn’t quite have to replicate what he did last season - 484 runs at 204.22 SR - but a 200-ish run season where he averages in the low 20s or under 20, and ends up striking at under 130, might get him in trouble. He will have to do enough to make it clear that IPL 2024 was not a one-off due to a once-in-a-lifetime purple patch. 

Sanju Samson

2024 *finally* saw Sanju Samson turn a corner in his international career. Promoted to open the batting, Samson hit as many as three T20I tons, scoring 436 runs in the year at a strike rate of 180.16. He finally realised his potential and, for the first time ever at the biggest stage, showed what he is truly capable of. Hence as it stands, Samson, along with Abhishek, is a starter in India’s T20I side as an opener. 

There’s one factor that massively works in Samson’s favor and gives him a significant edge ahead of other competitors: it’s that he can keep wickets. 

Samson up top allows the management to pack the middle-order with specialist batters and all-rounders, something they cannot do if, say, a specialist batter opens; it will mean they will have to fit in someone like Jitesh Sharma in the middle.  

So Samson has a lot going in his favor, but he’ll still have to have an exceptional IPL 2025 to remain a certainty in India’s T20 side. Consistency has always historically been an issue with Samson, so a middling IPL 2025 will once again mean he won’t be beating the ‘inconsistent’ allegations. A 350 or 400-ish run season at a SR over 150 should be enough, you feel, for Samson to retain his spot in the Indian T20I side. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal

As of this moment, is Yashasvi Jaiswal a hot favourite to start for India in next year’s T20 World Cup? Probably not. But is Jaiswal far away from becoming India’s incumbent T20I opener? Not at all.

Jaiswal was destined to become India’s next T20I opener on the back of his outrageous IPL 2023 campaign, but a poor IPL 2024 coupled with other factors ended up putting him slightly back in the pecking order. However, the fact remains that he is still one of the best short-format batters in the country and is someone that the management rates very, very highly. 

So if Jaiswal has a season in the same ballpark as IPL 2023, where he smashed 625 runs at 48.08 and 163.61, it would be almost a given that he would force himself into the T20I side. 

Will that come at the cost of Samson or Abhishek? That we’ll have to wait and see. But Jaiswal is so dynamic that the management will undoubtedly jump at the opportunity to fit him into the starting XI.

That being said, having found himself out of the T20I side, the onus is on Jaiswal to force his way back in by having a stellar campaign. A season like IPL 2024, where he was good but not great, might just not cut it.

Shubman Gill

It was less than two years ago that Shubman Gill had a 890-run season in the IPL. It’s thus remarkable to think that he finds himself near the bottom when it comes to the pecking order. 

Post IPL 2023, Gill was far from convincing in the 15 T20Is he played, averaging 26.86 while striking at 128.3. After a ‘decent’ IPL, by his standards at least, Gill also did not make it to India’s T20 World Cup squad.

He is still Shubman Gill, and can never be completely ruled out of or written off from one format, but you do get the feeling that he’ll have to significantly change his approach at the top of the order to be a part of the Gambhir and Suryakumar-led Indian T20I side.

Gill is still very much an anchor, and it reflected in the way he batted for India post IPL 2023: in the aforementioned 15 T20Is, he went at 122.89 in the powerplay. Compare this to the T20I powerplay strike rates of Jaiswal (166.4), Abhishek (179.2) and Samson (138.0) during the same period.

The only way Gill will leapfrog the others and find a place in the T20I side come the 2026 T20WC is if he can show far more dynamism in IPL 2025 and bat with a care-free, high-risk mindset.  

The other contenders

Both Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad might still have a very slim chance of making it to the 2026 T20WC, but, for that, they might need to put together all-timer IPL seasons. 

Kishan actually has a far better shout, simply due to the fact that he, like Samson, is a wicketkeeper, and so him going to the top will provide a far better balance to the side.

Plus, while the opening slot is the only position Gaikwad is competing for, that’s not the case with Kishan. He is fighting with the likes of Samson, Jitesh, Pant and Jurel for the wicketkeeper’s slot and can still find a place in the side as a middle-order WK batter should he end up having a tremendous season.