NODWIN names India’s PUBG squad for the Esports Nations Cup

Team India has its four names for PUBG: Battlegrounds. NODWIN Gaming, the country’s national team partner for the Esports Nations Cup 2026, has confirmed the roster that will travel to Riyadh in November, and it leans on a mix of proven leadership and raw attacking instinct.

The main line-up is built around in-game leader Anirban Paul, better known as Snipaul, alongside Tejasvi Vashist (Unforgiven), Rishi Singh (Ryzn) and Vedang Chavan (Vedzz). Rupesh Kumar (Rupesh) and Shaikh Abuzar (Illmindd) travel as substitutes, and Pratik Mehra, who competes under the tag Aurum, takes charge as national coach with a say over selection, strategy and the run-in to the event.

A roster picked for firepower

Snipaul carries the most decorated recent record of the group. He led Team Newbies to the PUBG Master Series APAC Finals and pushed them into the Esports World Cup playoffs last year, the kind of deep run that tends to carry over into a national setup. Around him, Ryzn brings the aggression, a player whose reputation is built on early fights and quick gunplay rather than sitting on a lead.

It reads like a squad that wants to dictate the pace of a lobby rather than survive it. PUBG at this level is often decided by who controls the middle of the map and who is willing to take fights that others avoid, and India’s four have been assembled with exactly that in mind.

How India got the invite

India did not have to scrap through a bracket for this one. The spot came via direct invitation through the Esports Nations Cup ranking system, which counted results from official PUBG competitions between February 1 and June 7 this year. Enough points across that window pushed India into the invited group rather than the regional qualifiers, a small but real head start given how much travel and roster juggling the qualifier route can demand.

Part of a wider India campaign

PUBG is one piece of a broader push. India has already locked in a VALORANT place through the Asia qualifiers and secured spots in Trackmania and chess, where Grandmaster Nihal Sarin leads the entry. Not everything has gone India’s way, though. The Dota 2 team came up short in its regional qualifier at the start of July, so the country will not be represented in that title in Riyadh.

The Esports Nations Cup runs from November 2 to 29, with the PUBG: Battlegrounds segment slotted in from November 11 to 15. Twenty-four nations will be in the mix for that title, chasing a prize pool of around USD 1.12 million, roughly INR 10.6 crore. For a country that has often been stronger on mobile battle royale than on PC PUBG, a direct invite and a settled roster this far out is a decent platform to build on.

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