India batter Tilak Varma has been ruled out of the last two T20Is of the ongoing series against New Zealand as he continues to recover from his abdomen injury. Varma was admitted to hospital after suffering acute testicular pain while turning out for Hyderabad in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Rajkot earlier this month. He subsequently underwent a successful surgical procedure and has been rehabilitating at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
Varma has resumed physical training and is making steady progress in his rehabilitation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Monday. However, the left-hander will require additional time to regain full match fitness and hence has been ruled out of the entire New Zealand series.
Varma is expected to link up with the Indian squad in Mumbai on 3 February, once he has achieved full match fitness. His return is planned ahead of India’s warm-up fixture for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. In the meantime, Shreyas Iyer will remain in the squad as Tilak Varma’s replacement for the remainder of the series.
India’s squad for last 2 T20Is vs New Zealand: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ishan Kishan (WK), Ravi Bishnoi
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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