3 big areas of concern for Team India from their 3-2 win in the NZ vs IND 2026 T20Is ft. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's disappointing comeback

Team India got over the line in the recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand by a 3-2 margin. Although they suffered defeats in the last two encounters, the Men in Blue did enough in the first three matches to secure the victory.

There were a few positives for India from the series. Abhishek Sharma continued his excellent form, while Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar Reddy showed decent all-round ability. At the same time, however, there were a few problem areas that need to be addressed going forward.

On that note, here are three big areas of concern for Team India from their 3-2 series win over New Zealand.

#3 Is Shreyas Iyer the right man to lead India?

Shreyas Iyer made a half-century in the final encounter of the series, but his return to the T20I side has been rather underwhelming. While he clearly has some ability in the shortest format on his day, he arguably doesn't belong in the team's strongest playing XI.

With names like Rajat Patidar sitting out, Shreyas needs to be at his absolute best on a consistent basis. But both his batting and his captaincy haven't been up to the mark so far, as India failed to win their T20I series against Ireland and West Indies before their recent narrow triumph over the Black Caps.

#2 Sanju Samson had another underwhelming series

Sanju Samson started the series with a sparkling half-century, but as is often the case with him, he flattered to deceive. The opening batter wasn't among the runs in the next few matches, once again casting doubt over his position at the top of the order.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir has been vocal about a long rope for Samson, whose knocks helped India to the T20 World Cup title. But a player of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's quality surely cannot be kept on the bench for much longer, particularly when India already have a wicket-keeping option in Ishan Kishan who is a lock in the playing XI.

#1 India's pace resources look thin

Bhuvneshwar Kumar's international comeback didn't go to plan. The ace seamer failed to keep the runs down and wasn't among the wickets either, justifying former selector Ajit Agarkar's decision to keep him out of the mix despite a couple of impressive Indian Premier League seasons.

The other fast bowlers didn't particularly impress either. Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav all went for runs, and none of them had a notable wicket haul over the course of the five-match series in what were decent conditions for batting.

In fact, Nitish Kumar Reddy was arguably one of India's best pacers on display in the series. India are no closer to answering their questions on pace resources in Jasprit Bumrah's absence, and the fact that none of the specialist seamers can bat makes things worse.

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