The Weekly Wicket: India’s T20 WC 2026 Squad to Australia’s Ashes Series Win - This Week in Cricket

The third week of December has been quite a rollercoaster in the cricketing world, with India’s squad selection for the T20 World Cup 2026, Australia’s Ashes retention, record-breaking performances, big-money IPL mini-auction, controversy over the abandonment of Lucknow T20I between India and South Africa, and several headline-grabbing developments across international and domestic cricket.

As the third week of December concludes, let’s take a look at the top cricket highlights of the week that dominated the headlines.

The BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia announced the 15-member India squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. The squad was announced during the press conference, presided over by Saikia, the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, and India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.

The T20 World Cup squad saw Ishan Kishan and Rinku Singh getting a national recall, especially the latter, making a comeback to the national side after two years following his performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025/26 season, while Shubman Gill and Jitesh Sharma were surprisingly dropped from the roster. The spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel was reinstated as a vice-captain. The same squad will play the five-match T20I series against New Zealand ahead of the marquee event.

The recently concluded IPL 2026 Mini-Auction witnessed all 10 franchises engaged in fiery and intense bidding wars to acquire the services of their targeted players ahead of the IPL 2026 season. The auction took place in Abu Dhabi, and a total of 215.45 crore out of 237.55 crore were spent on 77 players by the franchises to fill the available slots, leaving just 22.1 crore unused at the end of the auction.

Cameron Green made the headlines after Kolkata Knight Riders snapped him for a whopping INR 25.25 crore, making him the most expensive overseas player and the third costliest player in the history of the Indian Premier League. The Indian domestic talents Prashant Veer and Kratik Sharma became the joint-highest uncapped players after Chennai Super Kings snapped them for INR 14.2 crore each.

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Abhigyan Kundu grabbed the headlines with his record-breaking performance in the U19 Asia Cup 2025 match against Malaysia in Dubai. Kundu played a blistering knock of 209 off 125 balls, reaching the double century in just 121 balls. His knock propelled India to 408/7 in 50 overs before crushing Malaysia by 315 runs to seal their berth in the semifinal.

Abhigyan Kundu, who represents Mumbai in domestic cricket, shattered several records during his knock, including the highest individual score by an Indian batter in Youth ODIs, fastest to score a double century in U19 ODIs, and the second-highest individual score in Youth ODIs, firmly establishing himself as one of India’s brightest young batting talents. Before the final, Abhigyan Kundu was the leading run-getter for India with 263 runs at an average of 263.00 in four matches.

The fourth T20I of the recently five-match T20I series between India and South Africa was called off due to ‘excessive’ fog and poor air quality at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. India were leading the series 2-1 over South Africa. The abandonment of the Lucknow T20I put the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under fire over the scheduling of the matches.

The BCCI was slammed for poor scheduling, given that the northern Indian cities often face severe fog and smog in winter. It was reported that the AQI was above 400 in Lucknow on the day when the match was abandoned. The BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla agreed to the need to review and possibly revise the scheduling of international and domestic matches in North India between December 15 and January 15 to avoid weather-related disruptions.

Team India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, eventually clinched the five-match T20I series 3-1 with a 30-run win over South Africa in the fifth and final T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, December 19. India lost the Test series to South Africa before winning the white-ball leg of the home series to end the year on a good note.

After posting a total a solid total of 231/5, thanks to a 105-run stand between Hardik Pandya (63) and Tilak Varma (73), India's bowlers restricted the Proteas to 201/8 in 20 overs, despite a 65-run knock by Quinton de Kock. Varun Chakravarthy led the bowling attack with a spell of 4/53 in 4 overs, while Jasprit Bumrah picked two wickets and conceded just 17 runs in his quota of 4 overs.

Australia successfully retained the Ashes with an unassailable series lead 3-0 following an 82-run win over Australia at Adelaide. Australia, under the leadership of Steve Smith, won the first two Tests in Perth and Brisbane before sealing the series under Pat Cummins’ captaincy at Adelaide. With a 3-0 series lead, Australia extended their dominance by retaining the urn for the fourth time on the trot.

Australia concluded the third Test on the final day, needing four wickets to win before eventually dismissing England for 352 while they were chasing a mammoth target of 435 runs. Skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon led the bowling attack with three wickets each, while Scott Boland picked the final wicket of Josh Tongue to seal an emphatic victory and confirm their Ashes retention at Adelaide.

Punjab Kings co-owner Ness Wadia expressed his dissatisfaction over the Australian wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis’s ‘unprofessional’ behaviour, as he informed the franchise about his limited availability for the next IPL season ‘45 minutes’ before the retention deadline and leaving the team short of time to plan for the IPL 2026 season. After being released by PBKS, Inglis entered the auction at a base price of INR 2 crore.

Eventually, Inglis was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants for a whopping INR 8.6 crore despite the concerns over his availability for the entire season. It was confirmed that Josh Inglis would be available for just four matches in the next IPL season due to his wedding plans in April.

Jharkhand ended their 12-year domestic title drought with their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy triumph by defeating Haryana in the final at the MCA Stadium in Pune. Ishan Kishan-led side was quite dominant across all departments as they defeated Haryana by 69 runs to take home the prestigious T20 domestic trophy. Riding on skipper’s blistering 101-run knock and Kumar Kushagra’s 81, Jharkhand posted a solid total of 262/3 in 20 overs and set a hefty 263-run target for Haryana to chase.

Defending the target, Jharkhand bowlers bundled out Haryana for 193 in 18.3 to secure a 69-run victory and maiden SMAT title, marking a historic moment for Jharkhand in Indian domestic cricket. Sumit Kumar led the bowling with a spell of 3/27 in four overs, while Bal Krishna also picked three wickets and conceded 38 runs in his spell of 3.3 overs. Vikash Singh registered figures 2/30 in three overs.

New Zealand opener Devon Conway had an exceptional outing in the third and final Test of the series against the West Indies, as he notched up a double century and a century across both innings. In the first innings, Conway was the standout batter for New Zealand as his 227-run marathon knock guided the hosts to 575/6. In the second innings, the veteran batter scored 100 off 139 balls to help post a total of 306/2 before declaring the innings and set a challenging 462-run target for West Indies to chase.

With a double century and a century, Devon Conway became the first New Zealand batter to achieve this historic feat in a Test match. Meanwhile, New Zealand are on the verge of clinching the series as West Indies need 419 runs to win on the final day of the final Test.

Team India, led by Ayush Mhatre, saw their hopes of clinching the coveted U19 Asia Cup trophy shattered after suffering a 191-run defeat to Pakistan in the much-anticipated final at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai. It was the second consecutive final defeat for India, having lost to Bangladesh in the previous edition.

With a mammoth 348-run target, India U19 batters succumbed to scoreboard pressure as they were bundled out for 156 in 26.2 overs. Tailender Deepesh Devendran was the top scorer for the runners-up with 36 off 16 balls, while young batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 26 off 10 balls at an impressive strike rate of 260. 

The bowling unit was below par with their performance, as four bowlers, Deepesh Devendran (3/83), Kanishk Chouhan (1/72), Henil Patil (2/62), and Kishan Kumar Singh (0/50), conceded heavily and failed to contain Pakistan’s aggressive batting throughout the innings.