Shubman and Hardik return as India hit full strength for T20Is

In no other format are India as comfortable or confident as Twenty20.

- Somshuvra Laha

So, they will be expected to confidently enter the business end of a tour that began with a 0-2 hiding in Tests.The tempo is high in this format, as it should be on the back of stitching seven consecutive T20I series wins since the 2024 T20 World Cup with a 24-4 win-loss record.

Two more bilateral series and India have the chance to pull off a rare feat of going into February’s T20 World Cup at home with an all-win series record. Proven sides like South Africa — runners-up of the 2024 T20 World Cup —and New Zealand are expected to stretch them though, beginning on Tuesday. In the context of the buildup to the World Cup, India would like nothing better.

Suryakumar Yadav however put the marker further back. “Our 2026 T20 World Cup preparation began right after we won the T20 World Cup in 2024,” he said at the press conference in Cuttack on Monday.

“Because for any big tournament, you cannot think that the tournament is here and you have to start preparing. It's like when we appear for exams in school, it is not like we try to study everything in the last four days. We study for a year or two. Our preparation is similar. The preparation started after the T20 World Cup 2024 got over. Since then, we have been trying new things and everything is working for us,” he said.