This is the season of model examinations. Just as students across the country get ready for their upcoming boards, India and New Zealand have their own mock tests lined up ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup.

The five-match T20I series, starting at the VCA Stadium here on Wednesday (January 21, 2026), serves as the ideal dress rehearsal for Suryakumar Yadav’s Men in Blue and Mitchell Santner’s Black Caps.

With the 20-team extravaganza barely three weeks away, both sides — armed with almost full-strength squads — will want to dot their i’s and cross their t’s, much like studious students revising the chapters.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir, though, will have to make some revisions to his original plan due to injuries to Tilak Varma (sidelined for the first three matches) and Washington Sundar (ruled out of the series).

The home team will field its strongest available XI, which means pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and talismanic all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be seen in action. Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, after a rather tumultuous period, will want to use these five games to solidify his spot at the top of the order.

When asked who among Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer will take Tilak’s spot, Suryakumar confirmed: “Kishan will play at No. 3. He is in our World Cup team. We had picked him first, and hence it is his place and responsibility. The scenario would have been different if we were talking about the No. 4 or No. 5 spots.”

For the Kiwis — buoyant after their ‘back-up’ team’s triumph over India in the ODI leg — the challenge will be to ensure that their T20 globetrotters, some of them coming from their franchise league commitments, hit the ground running efficiently and cohesively.

Nagpur 2016-2026

The viral 2016-2026 social media challenge has a curious sporting parallel this week. It was here, on March 15, 2016, that the New Zealand spinners — led by Santner (4-0-11-4) — fashioned a famous victory over India in a T20 World Cup fixture. Almost a decade later, as the teams return to the scene, can the Indian tweakers flip the script against Santner’s men?

The Kiwis seem to have made a happy habit of scripting history on Indian shores. After winning the Test series in 2024 and the ODIs recently, can they make it three in three by clinching the T20I series, or even better, the T20 World Cup?

They couldn’t have asked for a better mock test, for sure.

The teams (from): India: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Axar Patel (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ishan Kishan (wk) and Ravi Bishnoi.

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (Capt.), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wk), Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Robinson, Ish Sodhi and Kristian Clarke.

Match starts at 7 p.m.

“Batting orders are overrated, except the two openers.”

Head coach Gautam Gambhir reiterated his coaching philosophy recently, and it could soon come under scrutiny. As the national senior selection committee meets at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Saturday (December 20, 2025) to finalise India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, it is the opening combination that is likely to generate the most debate.

The selection panel, chaired by former India pacer Ajit Agarkar, otherwise faces a relatively straightforward task while picking the squad for the marquee event, to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February and March. Since Gambhir took over as head coach in July 2024, the T20I side has emerged as India’s most settled and successful unit across formats.

The one area that has remained unsettled, however, is the opening slot. Ever since Shubman Gill was recalled after a year-long hiatus ahead of the Asia Cup in September, the debate has only intensified.

Gill has scored 291 runs in 15 innings since his return, striking at 137.26, with a 28-ball 47 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup being his highest score. While respectable, the numbers have not fully matched the demands of a modern T20 opener.

Gill’s return came at the expense of Sanju Samson, who had enjoyed a prolific 12-month run at the top of the order, scoring three hundreds.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, meanwhile, remains firmly in contention. Preferred over Gill as the reserve opener for the 2024 T20 World Cup, Jaiswal has strengthened his case by making significant contributions in the limited opportunities he has received in India’s Blues.

The selectors must now decide whether to persist with Gill — also India’s designated vice-captain — and opt for Jaiswal as the reserve opener, or revisit Samson’s role as a wicketkeeper-opener. Ishan Kishan has further complicated matters with a timely resurgence, playing a key role in Jharkhand’s triumphant Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign.

Beyond the opening slot, the reserve wicketkeeper’s position is also up for discussion. While Jitesh Sharma appears certain to be the first-choice wicketkeeper, the battle between Samson and Ishan for the backup role remains open.

Elsewhere, the squad looks largely settled. The only other notable question is whether Rinku Singh, who missed out on the 2024 T20 World Cup squad, will again be overlooked in favour of Washington Sundar.

With the Gambhir-Agarkar combine showing a clear preference for all-rounders over specialists, Washington appears to have the edge.

Agarkar is scheduled to address the media after the selection committee meeting on Saturday (December 20) afternoon.