1st T20I: Captain SKY's series to sort out batting woes
Nagpur (PTI): Skipper Suryakumar Yadav would want the attacking batter in him to front up and bolster his leadership against New Zealand when the five-match T20I series gets underway here on Wednesday, serving as a final dress rehearsal for India's World Cup title defence in less than three weeks' time.
Since Suryakumar took over as India's T20 skipper in 2024, the results have been stunningly good with a winning percentage of more than 72 per cent. It papered over the skipper's woeful form with the willow for quite a while but not anymore.
The Indian T20 outfit has been on autopilot mode during the last two years with an odd defeat here and there being small blemishes for a crack team made up of top quality IPL performers knowing their roles to the 'T'.
However, the pressure of playing at home amid expectations that India become the first ever team to defend its title will weigh heavily on Suryakumar's mind going into the New Zealand series.
New Zealand, in the past one year, has achieved many firsts, including a Test series whitewash and a first ever bilateral ODI series win in India.
But when it comes to T20Is, India under Suryakumar have been a different beast having won 18 out of 25 games, largely due to Abhishek Sharma's blazing starts and Varun Chakravarthy's bamboozling performances in middle overs of opposition innings.
New Zealand have won 13 out of their 21 T20Is post the 2024 T20 World Cup.
With Devon Conway, skipper Mitchell Santner, world's premier T20I seamer Jacob Duffy and the duo of Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips in their ranks, New Zealand are as strong an opposition as one can expect.
It also means that the defending champions will get to make perfect World Cup preparations.
In this backdrop, it is Indian skipper Suryakumar, whose poor form has been the weak link of a formidable team.
Unarguably, 2025 was his worst in India colours with only 218 runs from 19 games without a single fifty and a strike rate of 123 plus.
It made matters worse that he got himself down to No.4 in order to allow Tilak Varma to get a longer run at No.3.
Bowlers across the globe have found out that straight deliveries at hard lengths can keep him quiet and conjectures about the state of his right wrist have only made things difficult.
A non-performing captain slowly loses respect of the dressing room and that is the last thing that the man from Mumbai's Chembur would want going into the T20 World Cup.
Shreyas or Ishan?
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In any other country, a player of Shreyas Iyer's calibre would have been an automatic choice in a T20I set up, having led three separate franchises to IPL finals and winning once.
The best player of spinners in this Indian set-up, Iyer's lucky break has come due to in-form Tilak Varma's abdominal surgery.
It still isn't clear if Tilak would recover in time for the marquee event but presence of Iyer at No.4 would give Suryakumar a chance to bat at a familiar No.3 slot.
However, if one takes into account that Tilak is a left-hander then Ishan Kishan, currently in red hot form, could also make a case for himself.
Kishan is someone who won't be effective beyond No.3 as he is more of an enforcer within powerplay overs but for the skipper's own sake, he would do better batting at that slot.
Return of Hardik, Bumrah and Varun
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The T20 series also marks the return of all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah after some well-earned rest during the ODI series.
Pandya brings in the balance to the T20 side with his skills and his presence means the team management can afford to play an extra specialist.
They will be joined by Varun Chakravarthy, the biggest "X" factor in this set up whom the New Zealanders haven't played much.
Varun's four overs between 7th to 15th often turn the match on its head and with Kuldeep Yadav being in indifferent form, the Tamil Nadu man would need to step up even more.
Varun's battles against Mitchell and Phillips will decide the fate of the series.
For New Zealand pacer bowling all-rounder Kristian Clarke, who claimed seven wickets including Virat Kohli twice across the three games of the recent ODI series, wil stay for the T20 series as both Michael Bracewell and Adam Milne are nursing niggles.
Teams (From):
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India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana.
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (captain), Devon Conway, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Robinson, Jimmy Neesham, Ish Sodi, Zak Foulkes, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Kristian Clarke.
Match Starts 7 pm.
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Three new cubs born to Cheetah Gamini in MP's Kuno Park; India's count rises to 38
Sheopur (MP) (PTI): Cheetah 'Gamini' has given birth to three cubs at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, taking the number of these big cats in India to 38, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Wednesday.
Describing it as a "roaring" success of the government's ambitious Cheetah re-introduction programme, Yadav said it is a powerful symbol of the country’s determined and historic conservation effort.
Gamini was translocated to India from South Africa as part of the ambitious project launched in September 2022 to revive the population of the world's fastest land animal in India, which had gone extinct decades ago.
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Yadav, in a post on X, said, “Kuno welcomes three new cubs - A roaring new chapter at Kuno on the occasion of completion of 3 years of arrival of cheetahs from South Africa. Celebrations echo through Kuno National Park as Gamini, the South African cheetah and second-time mother, has brought 3 new cubs into the world."
This joyful arrival marks the ninth successful cheetah litter on Indian soil and takes the number of surviving Indian-born cubs to 27, he said.
With these newest additions, India's total cheetah population has now reached 38 - a powerful symbol of the country's determined and historic conservation effort, Yadav highlighted.
Each birth strengthens the foundation of Project Cheetah and reflects the passion, perseverance, and round-the-clock dedication of the field staff and veterinary teams who have nurtured this dream into reality, he said.
"A moment of pride for Kuno, and for India—may Gamini and her three little sprinters grow strong and carry the nation’s cheetah revival story forward with speed and grace," the minister added.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav noted that Madhya Pradesh is a powerful centre for cheetah reintroduction.
This is a historic achievement for the entire country in the direction of wildlife conservation, biodiversity, and environmental balance, the CM said in a post on X.
It is a matter of immense joy that under Project Cheetah, the female cheetah ‘Gamini’ who arrived from South Africa has given birth to three cubs, he said.
"With the completion of three years of cheetahs’ arrival at Kuno National Park in Sheopur district, this is the 9th successful birth (of a litter). The total number of cheetahs in India has now increased to 38," Yadav added.
Earlier this month, cheetah Aasha, translocated to India from Namibia, gave birth to five cubs in KNP.
