Shreyas Iyer (L) and Ravi Bishnoi.
Credit: PTI Photo
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has added Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi to India's T20I squad for the five-match series against New Zealand.
Iyer, who replaces Tilak Varma following a surgery, will be in the squad for the first three T20Is, while Bishnoi has been named as the replacement for Washington Sundar, who will miss the entire series because of a side strain.
According to reports, Varma is expected to miss only the first three matches while he recovers from a surgery for testicular torsion. However, Sundar has been advised rest for a few days before reporting to BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for further management of the injury and is set to miss the entirety of the series.
The setbacks come at a time when the T20 World Cup, hosted jointly by India and Sri Lanka, is less than a month away
Meanwhile, Iyer and Bishnoi were out of favour from the T20 format for more than a year.
While Iyer last played a match for India in this format in December 2023, Bishnoi found himself out of the team in January 2025.
The batter made a statement in IPL 2025, leading Punjab Kings to the final and smashing 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07.
Bishnoi, on the other hand, has played a 42 T20Is for India and picked up 61 wickets.
The five-match T20I series against New Zealand will begin on January 21 and will go on till January 31, after which the team will gear up for the T20 World Cup from February 7.
India's updated T20I squad
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Shreyas Iyer (first three T20Is), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ravi Bishnoi