"Ishan Kishan will play at No. 3", India captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed a day ahead of the first T20I between India and New Zealand in Nagpur. The left-hander from Jharkhand bulldozed his way into the T20 World Cup squad after a sensational season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he led the side to the title.

Kishan scored 517 runs in the Indian domestic T20 competition in 10 matches which included two fifties and two hundreds, of which one century was in the final of the tournament. However, Kishan hasn't played for India since November 2023 last featuring in the five-match T20I series against Australia.

With the absence of Tilak Varma for the first three T20Is, India's replacement options were to go with the left-handed Kishan, who is also in the World Cup squad or Shreyas Iyer, who has been added to the squad for the New Zealand series. India have choosen to sway in favour of the former.

"Ishan will play third [No. 3]. Because [he's] in our World Cup team, we have picked him first. So, it's his responsibility and he has to play. He has been doing well in domestic cricket. He hasn't played for the Indian team for 1-1.5 years. We have picked him in the World Cup team and he deserves to play."

While this sorts out the No.3 for India, their No.4 remains a bit of concern. Suryakumar heads into this series with a lack of runs to his name. In the last 22 innings, he has scored just 244 runs at an average of 12.84 and a top-score of 47. However, the Indian T20I captain once again insisted that he has been batting well in the nets and didn't want to change his identity.

"I have been batting really well. And also, talking about the runs, it will definitely come. But at the same time, I can't do things differently. I don't want to change my identity." Suryakumar had also previously stated that he was only out of runs and not out of form. "What has given me success in the past 3-4 years, I would like to bat the same way. And then, if the performance comes, I will take it." The success Suryakumar hopes to emulate once again is when he scored 2544 runs in 71 innings and was one of the most feared T20 batters going around the world. But he admitted that he would come back stronger, if he couldn't find the adequate results in his own performance. "If it doesn't come, then I will go back to the drawing board, practise again, work hard and come back stronger."

Suryakumar also said that as captain he couldn't afford to dwell too much on his own performances but had to look after the overall team.

"If I was playing table tennis, lawn tennis or a single sport, then I would definitely think more. But here, this is a team sport. My first responsibility is to know how the team is doing. Is the team doing well? Is the team winning? So, I am happy to do that. And if I perform well in that, then it's fine. If not, then it's okay. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. But at the same time, I have to look after all the other 14 players also. Then there are support staff as well. So, I have been appointed as leader of everyone."

"I think there is no personal milestone. It's a team sport. Everyone has to step up. Everyone has to do well. Everyone has to be happy for each other. I think that is the most important thing in a team atmosphere. And that's what I like to do," Suryakumar added.