Will T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer find his groove against New Zealand amid a mixed bag run?

Wellington: As Team India starts its New Zealand tour with five T20Is, skipper Shreyas Iyer, who has been a mixed bag as a batter-plus-captain, will be aiming to find his groove against one of his favourite oppositions.

India will start the NZ tour with the first of the five T20Is at Christchurch on Thursday. Skipper Iyer was India's top run-getter in the home series against West Indies, having scored 181 runs in four innings with a strike rate of 205.68, but it was his maiden T20I century in the first game, a score of 102* doing the heavy lifting for him.

Shreyas has not been able to perform consistently as a batter in T20Is. Since being appointed a captain, he has scored 590 runs across 21 innings at an average of 34.70 and a strike rate of over 152, with a century and two fifties. His maiden T20I ton and unbeaten 80* against England have helped his batting average and strike rates massively, with his century in the first T20I against the West Indies being his first fifty-plus score after 10 innings. He followed the century with a quickfire 40 in 18 balls at Ranchi and scores of 1, 16 and 22.


Against NZ in T20Is, Iyer has scored 225 runs in 13 matches and 11 innings at an average of 25.00 and a strike rate of 124.30, with a fifty and best score of 58*. However, his cross-format record against NZ is strong, having made 1,098 runs in 28 matches and 27 innings at an average of 43.92 and a strike rate of almost 90, with three centuries and six fifties, with the best score of 105, which came against them in 2023 World Cup semifinal at Wankhede Stadium in 2023.

Shreyas has a fantastic record batting in NZ, having made 512 international runs in 13 matches and 12 innings at an average of 51.20 and a strike rate of 104.91, with a century and four fifties, including a best score of 103. Out of this, seven matches have been T20Is, having made 166 runs at an average of 33.20 and a strike rate of 131.74, with a fifty in seven innings.

This year across all international cricket, Shreyas has been slightly underwhelming, having managed 809 runs in 30 innings at an average of 32.36, with just a century and three fifties.

India's T20I Squad: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [WK], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.