IND vs NZ: Ishan Kishan deserves to get the nod ahead of Shreyas Iyer?

From January 21st, India will face New Zealand in a 5-match T20I series at home. This will be the last series of the Indian team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, which will start on February 07 and be hosted by India and Sri Lanka. In this series, India’s two veteran batters will make their returns in the T20I setup, first is Ishan Kishan, and second is Shreyas Iyer. 

Kishan is returning to the national team after 785 days. He played his last T20I against Australia on November 28th, 2023. After this, he completely vanished from the national team. Ishan Kishan got the opportunity after he performed very well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, where he scored 517 runs in 10 innings, at an average of 51.7 and a strike rate of 197.32. He smashed 2 centuries. At the same time, Shubman Gill was continuously struggling in the T20I team, which caused him to be dropped from the T20I squad and World Cup squad as well.

Apart from Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer is also included in the T20I squad. This was a forced change because star middle-order batter Tilak Varma has been ruled out of the first 3 matches of the T20I series due to injury. Iyer is a regular member of the ODI squad and played a crucial role at 4. However, he has been missing Test and T20Is for a long while. He played his last T20I against Australia on December 03, 2023 (the same T20I series in which Kishan also played). 

Well, Indian fans are very excited to watch who will get a chance in the India playing XI first during the T20I series. It is almost confirmed that Ishan Kishan will play the first T20I against New Zealand. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav has also ensured that Kishan will play at 3. 

"Ishan will bat at No. 3 since he is in our World Cup team, and we picked him first, so it's his responsibility and his turn to play, and he's not played for India for a long time," Suryakumar said. "He's been doing well in domestic cricket, and he's not played for the Indian team for a year or a year and a half, and since we've picked him in the World Cup squad, I feel he deserves to play. If it was a question of No. 4 or 5, we may have thought differently, but unfortunately, Tilak isn't there, and I think Ishan is the best bet at No. 3."

It means Shreyas Iyer will have to wait for his opportunity in T20Is as well. If we compare both players’ stats in T20Is, then we see that Shreyas Iyer has scored 1104 runs in 47 T20I innings, at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 136.12, where he smashed 8 half-centuries. In T20s, he scored 6578 runs in 234 innings out of 240 matches. His average is 34.08, and strike rate is 136.61 and smashed 3 centuries and 43 half-centuries. He played most of the time in T20Is as a middle-order batter. 

In comparison to Shreyas Iyer, Kishan is always a top-order batter. He has scored 796 runs in 32 innings, at an average of 25.67 and a strike rate of 124.37, including 6 half-centuries. While in T20s, Kishan has 5787 runs in 207 innings, including 6 centuries and 31 half-centuries. He played with an average of 30.14 and a strike rate of 138.21. 

The stats show that Iyer has a better record than Kishan. But one thing is going in favour of Ishan, and that is current form. Although he is in the World Cup squad as well, which means he is preferred over Iyer. 

Ishan Kishan vs Shreyas Iyer (T20I stats)