The players enjoyed a short rest before India five-match T20I series against New Zealand. Ahead of the series opener in Nagpur, some Indian squad members were sighted on a jungle excursion in the Vidarbha region.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson put up a video of the jungle trip on his Instagram account and it went viral right away. The video features captain Suryakumar Yadav along wth Ishan Kishan, Ravi Bishnoi and Rinku Singh. The players were photographed travelling in an open-topped jeep inside a tiger reserve close to Nagpur. The video also includes the group stopping for a refreshment on the safari and sitting around a bonfire at their hotel.
Watch the video below.
Tilak Varma ruled out of first three T20Is
In the meantime, the India-New Zealand series of T20s will start on Wednesday, January 21, in Nagpur at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium. The series is timely as the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is just a few weeks away, and the Men in Blue are in need of fine-tuning on the combinations and addressing the recent problems of injuries. Suryakumar Yadav goes into the New Zealand series with an excellent record as the captain of India T20Is with all the matches he has led being successful including against England, Australia and South Africa.
There have been some prominent returns like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya who were not even included in the team during the ODI series. Strong performances in domestic cricket have led to the recall of Ishan Kishan who has not played internationally in a long time.
Tilak Varma was also confirmed to be injured and therefore will be out of action at least three matches and Shreyas Iyer is appointed to replace him. Washington Sundar is also unavailable in case of a side strain, and thus, Ravi Bishnoi has been included in the side. Bishnoi had not played in a T20I since February last year.
