India Vs New Zealand T20Is: Ishan Kishan To Bat At No. 3, Suryakumar Yadav Confirms

India captain Suryakumar Yadav on Tuesday (January 20, 2026) confirmed that Ishan Kishan will play ahead of Shreyas Iyer in the series against New Zealand as he is a part of the T20 World Cup squad and a like-for-like replacement for an injured Tilak Varma, being a left-hander.

Tilak, a default number three choice, has undergone an abdominal surgery and is ruled out of the first three games, starting in Nagpur on Wednesday. This has allowed Iyer to make a comeback to the national squad for the first three matches.

But Suryakumar made it amply clear that Iyer is being looked at as a No. 5.

"Ishan will bat at number 3 because he is a part of our T20 World Cup team and he was picked in the squad first so it's our responsibility to give him a chance," the skipper said in the pre-match press conference.

"He hasn't played for India for past one and half year and in the meantime consistently performed in domestic cricket," the Indian captain did not leave any room for guess work.

"Since he (Ishan) has been picked for World T20, he deserves to play ahead (of Shreyas). Had it been a question of batting slots Nos 4 or 5, it would have been a different question altogether. Unfortunately, Tilak isn't there so Ishan is our best bet," he added.

The T20 World Cup starts February 7 and will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

When asked if he himself has any chance of batting at No.3 where he got a lot of success, the skipper indicated that he would like to be flexible.

"I have batted at both positions for India. My stats at No. 4 are slightly better although they are good at No. 3 also. But then we are flexible with that," he said.

"We will see and if the situation demands that we have to send a right-hander (in case right hander Sanju Samson gets out), then, I will go in, otherwise Tilak (now injured) has been doing really well at number three."

'Can't Change My Identity'

With a strike rate of 113 and an average of less than 15 in 2025, 'SKY' has endured a prolonged rough patch but he intends to change nothing in his batting that has so far given him success.

"I've been out of runs. But I can't change my identity. I have decided to keep doing what I have been doing in the last three or four years so that has given me a lot of success.

"If the performance comes, I'll take it, if it doesn't, it's back to the drawing board. I'm still batting in the nets the way I always have," said Suryakumar.

While most questions predictably were about his form, the skipper diplomatically spoke about how individual form doesn't matter in the larger context of the team.

"Had I been playing a single (individual) sport like TT or tennis, I would have worried about my form. But this is team sport and my first responsibility is to ensure that my team does well.

"If team wins, I am happy and if I can contribute in team's success then fine and if not, doesn't matter as it can happen. But I have to look at 14 other players also and there is no place for looking at personal milestones."

(With PTI inputs)