India vs New Zealand 2026 2nd T20I Predicted Playing 11: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi IN, Ishan Kishan OUT, will Indians gamble with Varun Chakravarthy


Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set to return to playing 11 in place of injured Ishan Kishan in the 2nd T20I match vs New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday.






Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set to play in 2nd T20I match vs New Zealand on Saturday(Image: AI)


India vs New Zealand 2026 2nd T20I: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been patiently waiting on the bench for majority of the last couple of month, waiting for the chance to make it to the Playing 11 in T20I cricketThe 15-year-old will get that much-awaited opportunity – and once again away from home – as he looks set to replace world No1 T20I batter Ishan Kishan for the 2nd T20I against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday.

Kishan is India’s leading run-getter in T20I cricket in this year with 1158 runs in 35 matches which has propelled him to the top of the ICC T20I rankingsBut the Sunrisers Hyderabad batter is set to miss the second game of the five-match series due to an abductor strain suffered in the first T20I match on Thursday, where he was dismissed for just 1.


Read more:
IND vs NZ 2026 Live Streaming Info, 2nd T20I Match at Hagley Oval, Christchurch: When, Where, How to Watch

With Kishan ruled out of the second contest, Sooryavanshi seems to be the obvious replacement and should come out to open the innings on SaturdayWith Sooryavanshi back in the playing 11 after the Asian Games 2026, Samson – who had scored 67 in the first game – will slide down to the No3 position.

“He is really young, but the way everyone in the team management takes care of him – I keep an eye neutrally – and everyone likes him, social media likes him, team also likes himBut you can’t make changes to the XI because people like him,” India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said ahead of the second T20I against New Zealand on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

“He is very talented and I believe he has a bright, bright future aheadSo once he gets his opportunities and settles down, he will learn a lot of things,” Kotak added.

Sooryavanshi is yet to play in a single international match back home in India but he has already turned out in 8 T20I games in 2026 and has a strike-rate of over 186All his international appearances have come in England, Zimbabwe and Japan.

“I felt that at the start, there was a lot of hype that ‘he has to play’I genuinely felt that wasn’t good for the player alsoJust a 15-16-year-old boy, and everyone saying ‘he should play’ and ‘he isn’t being picked’ and so onHe is too youngIt’s something I can’t control but it’s sadAnd it’s sad for the other openers also, who are performing but people are saying ‘why is he playing’,” Kotak said about Sooryavanshi.

The Rajasthan Royals batter coming in for Kishan is expected to be the only change in either sideBut Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer will consider blooding in ‘mystery spinner’ Varun Chakravarthy for either Arshdeep Singh or Mayank Yadav, considering the way New Zealand slow bowlers had performed in the second innings of the first match.

Meanwhile, the home team are also unlikely to make any changes although their skipper Mitchell Santner had taken a hard blow to his head while attempting a catchBut Santner came back to the field and completed his quota of over in the first T20I which his side lost by four wickets.

India vs New Zealand 2026 2nd T20I match Predicted 11

India: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson



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