Head coach Gautam Gambhir says India 'still aren't where we want' for upcoming T20 World Cup

India head coach Gautam Gambhir says there's still work to do before the team reaches at a certain level to compete in the upcoming T20 World Cup. India will be entering the tournament as defending champions, having won the tournament in 2024 under Rohit Sharma. Since the win, Rohit along with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have retired from the format for India. India appointed Suryakumar Yadav as the new skipper under whom India won the Asia Cup 2025 - the only multi-team tournament they played. Most recently, India won the five-match T20I series against Australia 2-1 away from home.

Gambhir on India's T20 World Cup preps

"It has been a very transparent dressing room, it has been a very honest dressing room and that is how we want this dressing room to be. I think we still aren't where we want to be come the T20 World Cup," Gambhir said in a clip shared by BCCI.TV.

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The head coach also touched upon the important of fitness and said: "Hopefully guys know the importance of being fit. We still have three months to be where we want to be."

India's next T20I assignment before World Cup

Before the T20 World Cup 2026, India will be playing 10 more T20Is - five against South Africa and five against New Zealand. All 10 matches will be played in India - a huge advantage for Gambhir's team as the T20 World Cup would be hosted jointly in India and Sri Lanka.

India will definitely be a favorite to win the tournaments but would be wary of other teams, especially Australia, who had beaten India in the final of 2023 ODI World Cup final - which was also played in India. Nonetheless, T20 is different format in which any team is capable of beating the other team on its day.