BCCI announces India A squad led by Tilak Varma with Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the 15-member India A squad for the ACC Men's Rising Stars Asia Cup 2026, naming Tilak Varma captain and Rajat Patidar vice-captain. The tournament will be played in Doha, Qatar, from November 19 to 29.

The squad was picked by the Men's Selection Committee. India A are in Group B with defending champions Pakistan A, Nepal and the UAE. They open against Nepal on November 20 and play Pakistan A on November 22.

India A squad


The squad mixes players who have already played for India with IPL performers and teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Tilak is India's T20I vice-captain and was part of the side that won the T20 World Cup in March, beating New Zealand by 96 runs in the final in Ahmedabad. He also led India A at the 2024 edition of this tournament in Oman, where Abhishek Sharma was his deputy.

Abhishek, Rinku Singh and Harshit Rana have all played for India. Patidar led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the IPL title and has captained India A before, in a one-day game against Australia A in September 2025. Prabhsimran Singh and Kumar Kushagra are the two wicketkeepers.

Sooryavanshi, who is 15, keeps his place after hitting 144 off 42 balls against the UAE in last year's edition, with 15 sixes in the innings. Suryansh Shedge and Harsh Dubey also return from last year's squad. Kushagra and Tanush Kotian were on the stand-by list then and have now made the main group.

Tournament format and schedule

The event, earlier called the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup, has eight teams in two groups of four. Group A has Bangladesh A, Sri Lanka A, Afghanistan A and Hong Kong, China. The top two teams from each group go through to the semi-finals on November 26 and 27. The final is on Sunday, November 29.

According to the schedule released by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) on October 24, the tournament moves to a 50-over format this year, after being played as a T20 event in 2025. India A's matches against Nepal and the UAE will carry List A status. Nepal, the UAE and Hong Kong, China qualified through the ACC Men's Premier Cup in Malaysia. All matches are in Doha, at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium and the University of Doha for Science and Technology ground.

India A fixtures

• Friday, November 20: India A vs Nepal, 1 pm (3:30 pm IST), West End Park


• Sunday, November 22: India A vs Pakistan A, 1 pm (3:30 pm IST), West End Park


• Tuesday, November 24: India A vs UAE, 9 am (11:30 am IST), University of Doha for Science and Technology

India A squad: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Tilak Varma (c), Rajat Patidar (vc), Rinku Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Suryansh Shedge, Shahbaz Ahmed, Vipraj Nigam, Harsh Dubey, Tanush Kotian, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshad Khan.