IND vs NZ 2026: Why is Varun Chakravarthy not playing in IND vs NZ 3rd T20I?

India will be locking horns with New Zealand in the third T20I of the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on January 25. The first two matches belonged to the hosts. The Suryakumar Yadav-led unit were comprehensive in all the departments to script victories by 48 runs (Nagpur) and seven wickets (Raipur).

Toss Update

Suryakumar won the toss and opted to field first. He mentioned the dew factor behind his decision. Amongst other things, he spoke on the all-rounders chipping in with a few overs to help the bowling lineup in their endeavour.

Mitchell Santner predicted another belter of a wicket for the batters. He emphasised on the importance of moving on from previous setbacks. The all-rounder announced that Zak Foulkes, who conceded 67 in his three overs in the second T20I, will be replaced by Kyle Jamieson.

Why did Varun Chakravarthy miss out on playing in the 3rd T20I?

Chakravarthy has been rested for Ravi Bishnoi. The leg-spinner was recently added to the squad after Washington Sundar was ruled out due to injury. He last played a T20I for India in February 2025. Although Bishnoi has not been added to the T20 World Cup squad, a good outing or two might make the selectors reconsider him.

The second change India made was Arshdeep Singh going out for Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah was rested for the second T20I to manage his workload. The decision did not sit well with a majority of the cricket fraternity. Many analysts have previously stated how important it is for Bumrah to get into a rhythm before the marquee event, which will be played across February and March.

What did the captains say?

Suryakumar Yadav, India captain

We'll look to bowl first, the wicket looks good and there will be a little bit of dew later on. So, I would like to chase tonight. (Message to the teammates) I think let's let's try and repeat the good habits, be the same way, enjoy, be fearless, take your own calls when you're inside because two batters or bowlers who are bowling, I think they're the best to judge inside. Enjoy it and at the same time be a little humble as well. It's always good, someone like Shivam, Hardik and some days Abhishek Sharma chipping in one or two overs. It's always a big boost. Hardik has been doing that for India for a very long time. Shivam Dube is doing it recently. So it's a big boost and we're very happy with it. We've two changes - Arshdeep and Varun resting tonight. Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi come in.

Mitchell Santner, New Zealand captain

I think it (wicket) will be pretty good again. With the batters, seeing what it does and then try to put a good score on the board. I thought we batted quite well (in the last game), we played the game pretty well and then with the ball, we came up against a very strong team with good hitting. So I guess taking the learnings from the last game and trying to put them into this game. You have to move on pretty quickly. I guess the nature of the series is we roll around really quickly. With the nature of different games in different cities, you have to turn up and see what it's gonna do and then go again. So that's what we gotta do tonight. Neesh (Neesham) was gonna play, but he's crooked. So we've brought in Jamieson for Foulkes.

Playing XIs

India

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand

Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy