The first Twenty20 International between India and New Zealand will be played on Wednesday, January 21, at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. It will be the two sides’ final match before the 2026 T20 World Cup.
India is coming off a disheartening ODI series loss to New Zealand, despite their generally outstanding performance in the shorter format. The Men in Blue will be missing Tilak Varma and Washington Sundar, who will be replaced by Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi.
India’s T20I squad for the New Zealand series: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Shreyas Iyer.
New Zealand’s T20I squad for the India series: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Kristian Clarke (first three games), Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ish Sodhi.
On that topic, here are three things to look forward to in the first Twenty20 International between India and New Zealand.
3. Suryakumar Yadav in desperate need of runs under his belt
Suryakumar Yadav has reportedly said he’s “short of runs and not form” but that is a peculiar statement. He can’t buy the middle of his bat at the moment, let alone find it, and his favorite shots are not coming off.
Suryakumar’s form remained poor throughout 2025, and he will come under the gun against New Zealand. Will the Indian captain regain his form and allay fears in the team ahead of T20 World Cup? If he can’t fix his batting, pressure is likely to begin mounting on SKY even before the tournament.
2. Will India unleash Harshit Rana at No. 8?
With a fifty in his first ODI, Harshit Rana could well be assigned the role at No. 8 so highly valued in the shortest format. If India have faith in his ability, he might just get a shot ahead of someone like Dube or Kuldeep Yadav or Rinku Singh.
If Rana comes in the playing XI at 8, then India’s ideal combination before the T20 World Cup could a get place. Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah can potentially wreak havoc with the Delhi pacer, joined by Hardik Pandya. Varun Chakaravarthy, though, will back these fast men up in the middle overs.
It will also be fascinating to see if India have enough faith in Rana’s batting to play him as the No. 8.
1. Ishan Kishan On the way to a T20I return
Suryakumar has also returned the favor, to wear his shoes in the playing XI and has shown confidence that Ishan Kishan (Tilak Varma) will replace him. The keeper-batter is likely to get a chance at No. 3 and all eyes will be on him.
Chosen as a back-up keeper ahead of Jitesh Sharma in the T20 World Cup squad because India required one more top-order option, Kishan will look to seize his opportunities against New Zealand. If he can churn out a couple of statement knocks, he might even vie for a place in the XI for the premium ICC event.
