India will host West Indies in a five-match T20I series starting at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on October 6. The remaining matches will be played in Ranchi on October 9, Indore on October 11, Hyderabad on October 14, and Bengaluru on October 17.

Shreyas Iyer will captain the India side with Tilak Varma as vice-captain. The squad includes Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, and Naman Dhir. West Indies will be led by Shai Hope with the squad featuring Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Romario Shepherd, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, and Roston Chase.

India enter the series after securing the Asian Games gold medal with a 19-run win over Pakistan and a 2-1 ODI series victory against West Indies. The visitors avoided a clean sweep by chasing down 352 in the third ODI through Shai Hope's unbeaten 162.

The ICC released the 2027 ODI World Cup schedule on Thursday. India will begin their Group A campaign against defending champions Australia in Cape Town on October 7. The 14-team tournament is co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and it runs a new format that sends the top three teams from each group into a Super 7 round before the semis.

Group A also includes Pakistan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Qualifier A. Group B has New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh and Qualifier B. India meet Pakistan in Johannesburg on October 10.

Chairman Jay Shah said the ticket ballot opening alongside the schedule marks two big steps, and the ICC wants affordable seats so more fans can attend across the twelve venues.

Pakistan all-rounder Saim Ayub produced a baby-cradle celebration after dismissing India's 15-year-old opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the Asian Games men's cricket final on Saturday. Sooryavanshi had scored 15 off nine balls, including two sixes, before edging an Abrar Ahmed delivery to wicketkeeper Usman Khan at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bat first on a surface offering turn and bounce.

India reached the final after beating Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the semi-final while Pakistan advanced by defeating Bangladesh in a rain-shortened semi-final. The teams did not exchange handshakes at the toss. Sooryavanshi has been dismissed three times by off-spin in his international career, giving Pakistan a potential point of attack on a turning pitch.

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar said Sooryavanshi should not change his approach, noting the left-hander has shown a decent temperament for the big stage. Manjrekar added that opponents tend to bring spin on early against the teenager.

Persistent rain in Nisshin has raised the possibility that Saturday's Asian Games men's cricket final between India and Pakistan could be affected. The weather forecast indicates a 62 percent chance of rain in the morning, dropping to 25 percent in the afternoon.

India defeated Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the semi-final, while Pakistan advanced by beating Bangladesh in a rain-shortened semi-final. Both teams have already navigated weather disruptions during the tournament.

Under the 2026 Asian Games rules, if the final is abandoned without a result, the gold medal will be shared by both teams. This differs from the 2023 edition, when India were awarded gold after their final against Afghanistan was washed out.

India will play a six-match ODI series against South Africa next year to prepare for the 2027 ODI World Cup. The matches will be held at venues including Johannesburg, Cape Town and Centurion that will host World Cup games.

India open their World Cup campaign against Australia at Newlands on 7 October and face Pakistan at the Wanderers on 10 October. The series against South Africa will give Shubman Gill's side valuable match practice in conditions expected to mirror the tournament.

India have played 39 ODIs in South Africa, winning 13 and losing 23 with three no-results.

India's 124-run victory over Sri Lanka in the Asian Games semi-final is the highest winning margin in a men's T20I tournament final or semi-final between two full-member sides. The previous record was India's 96-run win over New Zealand in the 2026 T20 World Cup final. India now hold the record for the most wins by a margin of 100 runs or more in men's T20Is with 11 such victories.

Ishan Kishan's unbeaten 80 from 46 balls is the highest score by an Indian batter batting at number five or lower in T20Is. He surpassed Manish Pandey's unbeaten 79 against South Africa in Centurion in 2018. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 45 in 9.5 overs, the joint-lowest total by a Test-playing nation in men's T20Is.

India will face Pakistan in the gold medal match on Saturday at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.

Rishabh Pant said exclusion from India's white-ball squads is part of an athlete's career and requires maintaining belief in one's preparation. He told the Business of Sport podcast that setbacks are inevitable over a 15-20 year international career. Pant added that critics find it easier to pass opinions than to put in the required work.

Pant will lead Rest of India against Jammu and Kashmir in the Irani Cup starting Thursday at the Sher-i-Kashmir Stadium in Srinagar. He said domestic cricket offers opportunities to share experience with younger players and to learn from those around him. Pant emphasised keeping interactions light and treating the squad like a family.

He said his approach remains simple: focus on what is in front of him and give his best every time he takes the field. Pant noted that his next international assignment could be the Test series against New Zealand in November.

Australia have named Sophie Molineux in both their ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming series against Bangladesh and New Zealand despite ongoing concerns over a hip injury. The captain faces a race against time to recover before the first ODI in Brisbane on October 9.

Lucy Hamilton has been ruled out of the ODIs with a quad strain but selectors remain hopeful she will recover for the T20Is starting October 18. Darcie Brown was omitted from the squads with a back injury. Grace Harris is the only other omission from the T20 World Cup-winning squad.

The T20Is will be Australia's first matches since winning the World Cup at Lord's in July. The series against New Zealand will be played with an interim head coach after the White Ferns parted ways with Ben Sawyer earlier this month.

Heavy rain threatens India's Asian Games men's cricket quarterfinal against Afghanistan on Monday at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. The weather forecast indicates a 40 to 70 percent chance of precipitation with thunderstorms expected throughout the day.

Two earlier matches at the venue were abandoned without a result. India captain Shreyas Iyer said the team is prepared for any situation and will not take Afghanistan lightly. The side trained on Sunday with Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi among those present.

India enter the tournament as the top-ranked T20I side while Afghanistan sit tenth. If the match is washed out, India will advance to the semifinals as the higher-ranked team under tournament rules. The same outcome occurred in the 2022 Asian Games final when India received the gold medal without completing the match against Afghanistan.

India meet West Indies for the first ODI of a three-match series at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, September 27. The ground has seen India twice in ODIs before. In 2018 they beat West Indies by nine wickets there, and last year against Sri Lanka they posted 390 for five and bowled the visitors out for 73 — a 317-run win, their biggest ODI margin by runs. Virat Kohli made 166 that day, his highest ODI score on home soil. India were back at the venue earlier this year for a T20 series against New Zealand.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has acknowledged both successes and failures during his two-year tenure across all formats. Speaking ahead of the series against the West Indies, Gambhir said he accepts the responsibility that comes with the role and that ups and downs are inevitable.

Gambhir also spoke about his relationship with Rohit Sharma, noting that it dates back to their time as teammates and that mutual understanding makes decision-making easier. He said the same team-first approach has defined his work with all four captains he has coached.

Gambhir praised Shubman Gill’s handling of the Test captaincy during the England series and said Gill’s intention to put the team first makes the support staff’s job simpler. The white-ball series begins on Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram.

West Indies captain Shai Hope knows what awaits his side in India. Playing in those conditions is always a challenge, he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, and the series will show where West Indies actually stand.

Hope has made 741 runs in 14 ODIs here at 74.10, three of them centuries, but he says the team keeps falling short on consistency. Individual moments flare up, then disappear. He’s counting on young left-arm wrist-spinner Vitel Lawes to become a regular weapon, especially once the spinners take over on these pitches.

West Indies haven’t won an ODI series in India since 2002.

India bowling coach Morne Morkel sees the three-match ODI series against the West Indies as the first step toward 2027. He told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the side sat down to set the standards it wants and plans to start laying those foundations this week.

Workload management still comes first. Auqib Nabi and Harshit Rana are being eased back, while Nitish Kumar Reddy needs regular games to turn into a proper all-rounder.

The opening ODI is on Sunday at the Greenfield International Stadium. India have lost two of their last three ODI series and will be missing several senior players.