Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, India will play a five-match home T20I series against New Zealand, which will be their final dress rehearsal before the ICC event. The India squad for the NZ T20Is, which will start from January 21, has also been announced.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav and the Indian management will have one last chance to try out their combinations before the mega-event in February.
The Indian T20I team is mostly set with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson expected to open the innings, followed by Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma and No.3 and No.4, depending on the LHB-RHB combination.
With the current management preferring all-rounders, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel also feature in the squad. Ishan Kishan is the second wicketkeeper-batter in the squad.
In the bowling department, Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead the pace attack alongside Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana while Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy will be the frontline spinners in the side.
T20I vice-captain Shubman Gill has been dropped after missing the last two T20Is against South Africa due to a foot injury. His exclusion means Ishan Kishan finds a spot again.
Gill’s recent T20I form has been concerning. In the three T20Is he played against the Proteas, Gill managed 32 runs at a subpar average of 10.66. His overall numbers in T20I in 2025 also isn’t much impressive, averaging under 25 with 212 runs in 15 innings.
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The India T20I skipper has failed to be amongst runs of late, which extended his stretch of not scoring a fifty to 22 innings. In the last series against the Proteas, he scored just 34 runs across four games at an average of 8.50. Prior to that during the Australia tour, he managed 84 runs in five matches.
Even during India’s Asia Cup 2025 win, SKY averaged only 18 with 72 runs in seven games. The NZ series will thus be a wonderful opportunity for Suryakumar to find his rhythm as he gears up to lead India in their title defence at the T20 World Cup 2026 next.
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel (vc), Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana
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