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Ahead of India’s forthcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, the Men In Blue have been dealt a huge blow as the top and middle-order batter Tilak Varma has been ruled out of the first three games due to a groin injury.
On Thursday, January 8, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that Tilak has been ruled out for the first three T20Is amid reports of his potential exclusion from the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to start on Saturday, February 7, in India and Sri Lanka.
On Friday, January 9, Tilak will return home and undergo rehabilitation under the observation of the BCCI medical team. Also, the in-form star batter would require some time before he can resume physical activities, after which the BCCI will give a fresh update on him.
“Tilak will resume physical training and gradually return to skill-based activities once his symptoms have fully resolved and wound healing is satisfactory. He is ruled out of the first three T20Is against New Zealand. His availability for the remaining two matches will be assessed based on his progress during the return-to-training and skill phases,” the board said in a statement.
The first T20I between these two sides is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, January 21, in Nagpur. However, the BCCI decided not to replace Tilak with another batter for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.
Earlier, the reports suggested that Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and Riyan Parag had been reported as the frontrunners to replace Tilak Varma in the squad. However, BCCI’s new update had quashed all the rumours.
India updated squad for first three T20Is vs New Zealand: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel (vc), Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy.
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