The Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian national cricket team’s crushing defeat against New Zealand in the fourth T20 match has raised serious doubts over India’s preparation for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
Heavy defeat has increased the concern about T20 World Cup 2026
After the defeat, there is a lot of discussion on India’s team composition, batting order and selection of players, at the center of which is Shreyas Iyer.
The Men in Blue had already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the ongoing five-match T20I series against New Zealand and that gave the team management the freedom to try out new ideas in the fourth game in Vizag.
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With two T20Is and a few practice games still left before the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026, this phase is considered the best time to experiment and test tough conditions rather than playing it safe.
Ishan Kishan’s injury changed Indian plans
But the team faced an unexpected problem when Ishan Kishan, who was in great form in the last two matches, was ruled out with a minor injury. His absence left a mark in the playing eleven and many were hopeful that Shreyas Iyer would finally get a chance to return to T20I cricket.
However, that did not happen and the call was clear, as Iyer is not a part of India’s current T20 World Cup 2026 squad. With Tilak Verma expected to be fully fit soon, the Indian team management is focusing on supporting the players who are already in the World Cup picture rather than bringing Iyer back into the mix.
Shreyas Iyer was ignored in the planned experiment
The selectors and coaches took a bold step by replacing Kishan with another option like all-rounder Axar Patel. They brought fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. India went into the match with five proper bowlers including all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dubey.
After the match, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the team wanted to test the batting lineup under pressure. They wanted to see how the batsmen would react if India had to chase a big score like 180 or 200 and early wickets fell early. This was a well-planned strategy.
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Suryakumar Yadav told about Iyer’s criticism
This experiment did not work against the Black Caps in Vizag, but results were not the main focus in this match. And the Indian captain stressed that giving match time to players who are part of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad is more important than sticking to regular names.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation: “We deliberately played 6 batsmen today, we wanted to challenge ourselves – for example chasing 180 or 200, and also wanted to see if we were behind by 2 or 3, we wanted to play all the players who are part of the T20 World Cup.”
The move shows that the team is willing to accept short-term pain to get a clear answer before the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, which indicated that Iyer is not in their plans for the showpiece event.