Abhishek Sharma, Mohammed Siraj OUT, Sanju Samson IN, Jasprit Bumrah set to…

India vs Namibia Predicted Playing 11: Abhishek Sharma is set to be ruled out of T20 World Cup 2026 match as he is admitted in private hospital in New Delhi.

India.com at T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India are set to face off against Namibia in their second Group A match of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday. But the defending champions have suffered a massive blow with world no. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma all set to miss the encounter and remains doubtful for the next match against arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday as well.

Abhishek Sharma is currently admitted in a private hospital in New Delhi due to a ‘stomach infection’ which he has been carrying for over a week now. The Indian opener was dealing with the same issue in India’s opening game against the USA in Mumbai on Saturday where he was dismissed for a first-ball duck. He didn’t take the field in the second innings of that game.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad opener was the only one of the 15-member Indian squad who didn’t turn up for their first practice session in New Delhi on Tuesday evening.

Abhishek has been hospitalised in the Capital for the past two days. “Abhishek has been admitted to a private hospital in Delhi due to stomach infection. Some tests are being done to ascertain the problem. It is still not clear whether he will be discharged today. But match against Namibia looks doubtful as of now,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by PTI news agency.

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Team India management are keeping their fingers crossed for Abhishek’s return for the big game against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday. Abhishek had attended dinner at the residence of head coach Gautam Gambhir earlier this week but left early as he was not feeling well.

If Abhishek Sharma fails to get fit then Sanju Samson is all set to return to the playing 11 for the second game against Namibia. All indications from India’s net session in the middle of Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday evening pointed to that as Samson and Ishan Kishan were the first ones batting in the middle.

Mumbai ✅ (for now)
Hello New Delhi
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— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2026

However, in what is good news for India, bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has recovered from a viral fever which forced him to miss India’s opening match vs USA. The Mumbai Indians pacer bowled for the first time after also 10 days in the nets in New Delhi and was looking fit and rearing to go.

“He’s been off 10 days without bowling, but he’s feeling a lot better and moving a lot better, so we’ll see how training goes for them and get the team together on Friday,” India’s assistant Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday.

If Bumrah returns to the playing 11, it will mean that Mohammed Siraj will be making way for the pacer. Going by what we saw in the nets on Tuesday, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah are set to take the new ball for India with Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel being the two spinners.

India’s Predicted Playing 11 vs Namibia for Group A match in T20 World Cup 2026

Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy

For all latest updates of T20 World Cup 2026 you can visit: https://www.india.com/icc-mens-t20-world-cup-2026/