Samson, Suryakumar in the spotlight; and Shreyas or Kishan to replace Tilak?

The five-match T20I series against New Zealand is India's last assignment before the 2026 T20 World Cup

Karthik Krishnaswamy

19-Jan-2026 • 6 hrs ago

With five games remaining before they begin their defence of the T20 World Cup, India have most of their jigsaw in place. Seven of their first XI pick themselves -- eight if Tilak Varma is fit -- with one selection (a fast bowler vs Kuldeep Yadav) coming down to conditions.

That is an enviable level of clarity and stability, judged against some of the other big teams building up to the tournament. Even so, worries over form, fitness and a couple of cases of back-and-forth selections have left India with issues to resolve before they begin their campaign. Here are five questions that could be on their minds as they begin the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in Nagpur on Wednesday.

Can Samson vindicate India's late backflip?

Sanju Samson has a terrific record as T20I opener - three hundreds in just 18 innings, a strike rate of 178.02, and an average of 32.88. Only his partner Abhishek Sharma (190.40) has a better strike rate among the 11 India openers with 500-plus T20I runs. On that basis, there should be no question over Samson's place at the top of the order.

But thanks to events outside his control, he has spent the last few months trying to fit into a different role before returning to opening, taking back his place from a man who was anointed vice-captain before being dropped weeks before a World Cup. Through these months of chopping and changing, both Shubman Gill and Samson must have endured moments of insecurity and self-doubt. Now back in his natural habitat, Samson will want to put all that behind him and find his rhythm as soon as possible.

Shreyas Iyer or Ishan Kishan?

With Tilak out for at least the first three matches of this series, a slot has opened up in the upper middle order. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, the two players contesting that slot, present equally compelling cases.

Iyer hasn't played T20Is since December 2023, and hasn't played any T20 games, due to injury, since last year's IPL final. The performances that led Punjab Kings to that final, however, catapulted Iyer back into the T20I conversation: 604 runs at 175.07, the second-best strike rate among 11 batters who scored 500-plus runs, 150-plus strike rates against both pace and spin, 140-plus strike rates in every phase, and a long-standing question mark over his ability against the short ball answered emphatically.

As a right-hand batter, Iyer isn't a like-for-like replacement for Tilak, but this could work in his favour given how skewed the rest of India's top order is towards left-handedness.

Kishan endured a far more stop-start IPL than Iyer - a century and an unbeaten 94 and little else besides - but found his way back into India's squad as reserve keeper via a barnstorming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Jharkhand, whom he led to the title. Kishan, unlike Iyer, is in India's T20 World Cup squad too, so assuming Tilak's return to fitness goes to plan, India may prefer giving someone within that squad a run of games rather than someone who isn't part of it.

On the other hand, India view Kishan as Samson's understudy as keeper-opener, and Iyer as the next upper-middle-order batter in the queue behind Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak, so there could be merit in playing Iyer in his assigned role to ensure he's ready if required.

Can Suryakumar rediscover his mojo?

India's T20I captain has endured his worst period as an international cricketer, having gone 22 innings without a fifty and averaging 12.84 in that period. He has struggled against pace, struggled against full lengths, and struggled to score quickly in front of the wicket.

Since the T20I series against South Africa, he's only batted twice in competitive cricket, scoring 24 and 15 for Mumbai in the 50-overs Vijay Hazare Trophy. He's 35. He's about to lead India, the defending champions, at a home T20 World Cup.

No pressure.

For all that he's one of India's greatest-ever T20 cricketers, a man who hasn't just mastered the format but expanded its possibilities. If anyone can rebound from this slump, it's him. But there isn't too much time before the World Cup is upon him.

Rinku Singh or Shivam Dube?

Of all India batters with at least 200 T20I runs in the death overs (17-20), only Suryakumar (228.49) and Rohit Sharma (217.24) have better strike rates than Rinku Singh's 207.75. And Suryakumar and Rohit are top-order batters who are typically set when the death overs commence.

Rinku, then, has claims to being India's best pure finisher in the format - he averages 38.28 at the death, which shows his explosiveness doesn't come with the trade-off of frequent dismissals. And everything about his overall record says he should be a locked-in starter in the lower middle order.

Except he's not; or wasn't over the last few months, when Gill's return to the top of the order necessitated someone in the middle order making way for a keeper. That someone was Rinku, who now returns to the thick of things having played just two T20Is, and faced just one ball - the winning boundary in the Asia Cup final - since September.

With the keeper, Samson, returning to the top of the order, Rinku should be able to slot right back at No. 6 or 7, but things are never that simple. Shivam Dube has played all but one of India's 16 T20Is since the start of the Asia Cup, and while his numbers with the bat have been modest, he's contributed useful cameos and done a job with the ball whenever his medium-pace has been called into service.

Perhaps this selection will come down to conditions. On the typical Indian T20 pitch, which tends to be true and full of runs, India are likely to play the extra seamer rather than the extra wristspinner, Kuldeep, and the more accomplished pace hitter, Rinku, rather than another spin hitter in Dube. On turning pitches, Dube becomes a useful option with both bat and ball, allowing India to leave out a frontline seamer to make room for Kuldeep.

Has Rana ended the No. 8 debate?

Harshit Rana is coming off a breakthrough ODI series against New Zealand, during which he showed both the breadth of his fast-bowling skillset - his spells with the new ball were particularly revelatory - and the gears in his batting toolkit. All this should make him the likeliest starter at No. 8 in this T20I series.

In India's previous T20I series against South Africa, however, Rana only played one match, with India often stacking their batting so deep that Dube, Washington Sundar or Jitesh Sharma slotted in at No. 8. Given the presence of genuine allrounders in Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya and useful sixth bowling options in Dube and Abhishek, India can go down this route too.

Rana's displays in the ODIs, however, may have swung the No. 8 debate in his direction. Picking him would give India an all-phases seam option who is beginning to reveal glimpses of the lower-order batter lurking within his burly frame.

Potential India XI for first T20I in Nagpur

1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer/Ishan Kishan, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Axar Patel, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Harshit Rana/Shivam Dube, 9 Arshdeep Singh/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.

Karthik Krishnaswamy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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