Revealed: ‘Bangladesh’ reason behind James Neesham’s absence in IND vs NZ 1st T20I in Nagpur

The five-match T20 series between is at high-stakes India And new zealand Starting on January 21, 2026 at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. The series is an important final rehearsal for both the countries ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup in February. captaincy of india Suryakumar YadavGet into the match to test your combinations. New Zealand are aiming to maintain their dominance after a historic ODI series win on Indian soil, although they had to play the first match of the series without one of their key finishers.

‘Bangladesh reason’ behind Jimmy Neesham’s absence from IND vs NZ 1st T20I

The Reason James Neesham He is not playing in the first T20 match due to his extraordinary commitment towards the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and his franchise. royal warrior. Although Neesham is a core member of New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad, he decided to extend his stay in Dhaka to help the Warriors in their quest for the BPL title. Their team finished on top in the league stage with 8 wins from 10 matches and their playoff matches directly overlapped with the India tour.

Rajshahi Warriors coach, hannan governmentNeesham personally requested the 35-year-old all-rounder to stay until the business end of the tournament, a request enthusiastically supported by Neesham. To do this, Neesham took full responsibility of the logistics and personally contacted New Zealand Cricket (NZC) to arrange his own No Objection Certificate (NOC). The government praised Neesham’s warrior spirit, saying the player himself handled all the formalities to ensure he played in the BPL final on January 23.

“I will start by saying that even though Neesham is a national team player, Neesham will be with Rajshahi Warriors till the end of the BPL. When I requested him if he could somehow stay, he himself showed interest. But just interest was not enough, because he also had national responsibilities. We all knew how important a player like Neesham is to our team, so we made every possible effort. Neesham contacted his country’s cricket board. He himself handled the entire process from arranging the NOC to the match and told me that if Rajshahi reaches the final, he will return to the national team immediately after playing that match. BSSnews.net quoted Hanna as saying this

As a result, Neesham will fly to India on January 22 only if the monarchy is abolished early; Otherwise, he will join the national team on January 24 after the final. This means he will miss the first two T20Is in Nagpur and Raipur, with the third T20I in Guwahati expected to feature him.

“Neesham will join the New Zealand squad in India following his BPL commitments on the 22nd or 24th, so will be available for the end of the T20 tour of India.” Livemint quoted a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) official as saying.

Also read: Virat Kohli had to face defeat as Daryl Mitchell reached the top spot in ICC ODI batting rankings.

Mitchell Santner wins the toss in India vs New Zealand T20 match in Nagpur

New Zealand captain in the opening T20 match in Nagpur michel santner Citing a good batting surface and the expectation of dew in the evening, they won the toss and decided to bowl first. India captain Suryakumar shed light on the comeback, revealing that he too would have liked to bowl but was prepared to set targets. Ishan Kishan To bat at number 3 in place of the injured Tilak Verma.

Important changes seen in the Indian lineup Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi And -Kuldeep Yadav All were left out of the playing eleven. On the other hand, New Zealand gave a chance to the young fast bowler to make his T20 debut. Christian Clarkeven while bringing back kyle jamison And jacob duffy To lead a three-man seam attack. Michael Bracewell Will provide the all-round balance required for the visitors as they look to build momentum ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup.