India vs New Zealand 1st T20: Team India's young opener Ruturaj Gaikwad has suffered a wrist injury, reportedly ruling him out of the India vs New Zealand T20I series, starting January 27, Cricbuzz reported. As per the report, Ruturaj was supposed to reach Ranchi on Wednesday, January 25, but is currently at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He had complained of wrist pain during the Ranji Trophy after which he was asked to report to NCA. There are reports that no one else will be included in the team in his place. Notably, Ruturaj had missed India vs Sri Lanka T20Is in 2022 due to wrist issue.
After completing a memorable 3-0 whitewash over New Zealand in recently-concluded ODI series, the Men in Blue will play a three-match T20I series against the visitors. India vs New Zealand 1st T20I will be played on Friday, January 27 at the JSCA stadium in Ranchi.
Ruturaj has been in phenomenal form in domestic circuit. The 25-year-old had recently played an innings of 195 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy. The young opener has so far scored 2,836 runs in 90 T20 International matches for India, 135 runs in nine T20 matches and 19 runs in one ODI. In Ruturaj's absence, there are three openers in the Indian team in form of Shubman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Rahul Tripathi.
India vs New Zealand 1st T20 International will be played on 27th January, the second T20I of the series will be played on 29th january and the third and final T20I between India and New Zealand will be played on 1st February.
India's T20 squad will be led by star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, with Suryakumar Yadav assisting him as vice-captain. After the three-match T20I series between India and New Zealand gets over, India is slated to go up against Australia in a four-match Test series to mark an end to their 2022/23 season.