Tilak Varma’s return to India’s 11 and Ishan Kishan replacing Sanju Samson helped India achieve a rare feat in T20Is during the team’s 2026 T20 World Cup opener against the USA. This was the first time
in India’s T20I history that the team had a top-three only comprising left-handers.
It has never happened before in Tests, either, with the only two instances of international cricket coming in ODIs during the 1990s.
Abishek Sharma, the remaining one-third of the troika, has been the team’s first choice in the position for a while. The other end has seen a lot of shuffling, a musical chairs of sorts.
Before the 2025 Asia Cup, right-hander Samson was opening with Abhishek. For that tournament in the UAE, India replaced the former with another righty, Shubman Gill.
Gill’s poor form got him replaced last month, with Samson asked to open again. But the Kerala star’s underwhelming returns in the five-T20I series against South Africa opened the door for Kishan, who was playing the series at number three as a replacement for Tilak, who was injured.
Before the T20 World Cups, in a warmup against South Africa, India asked Kishan to open with Tilak at three, in the first clear sign that Samson was being dropped.
Abhishek-Kishan also script new record
It was also the first time since 2012 that India opened a T20I World Cup innings with two left-handers. Only five times previously have two lefties opened a T20I innings for India and just one of them came in a T20 World Cup: Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan in the 2012 edition. Interestingly, Kishan has been involved in two of those five instances, both with Rishabh Pant.
In this match, it didn’t go as planned. Abhishek got out for a golden duck in the second over, while Kishan only managed a 16-ball 20, getting out before the conclusion of the powerplay. Only three balls later, Tilak also got out for a 16-ball 25.
