Ishan Kishan is set to miss the third T20I as India weigh their options at No. 3

India travel to Wellington without Ishan Kishan and with the question of who bats at No. 3 still open

Ishan Kishan is expected to miss a second successive match of India's T20I series in New Zealand, leaving the tourists to settle a middle-order question they have so far answered in a hurry.

The wicketkeeper-batter sustained a low-grade right adductor strain during the first T20I and was ruled out of the second at Hagley Oval. Sports Tak reported on Saturday evening that he had also been ruled out of the third in Wellington, and RevSportz said on Sunday that he was set to sit the match out while the board's medical staff continue to monitor him.

India lead the series 2-0 and can put it beyond New Zealand on Tuesday. The second match, though, showed how little settled their top order becomes once Kishan is taken out of it.

What the board has said

The BCCI's media advisory on 23 October was brief. Kishan "sustained a low-grade right adductor strain during the first T20I against New Zealand", the board said, ruling him out of the second match with the BCCI Medical Team monitoring his progress.

No return date was attached to that statement, and no further advisory has been issued for the third match. The reporting since has run ahead of the board rather than against it, with both outlets describing the same strain and the same caution.

Kushagra called up from the A squad

India named Kumar Kushagra as cover for the second T20I. The wicketkeeper-batter was in Christchurch with the India A squad, which is playing a four-day match against New Zealand A, and joined the senior side from there.

RevSportz reported that he has since travelled on to Wellington with the squad. He is yet to play a T20I, and Sanju Samson keeps wicket in the XI, so the call-up does not in itself point to a debut.

The No. 3 experiment that did not take

With Kishan unavailable at Hagley Oval, India sent in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi at No. 3. The 15-year-old made 4 from 8 balls and was caught at extra cover off Nathan Smith.

Ravichandran Ashwin was unconvinced by the promotion. "That is a miss," he said, adding that Sooryavanshi "just found himself a little like a fish out of water" and that "walking in during the sixth over is not his cup of tea". "It did not feel like he was ever timing the ball," Ashwin said.

His suggestion was that Samson move up to one-drop if India want all three of their top-order options in the same XI.

Ramesh would have opened with him

Former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh made a similar case on his Instagram channel, though he arrived at it from the other end. "He should have opened," Ramesh said of Sooryavanshi.

"As a youngster, as soon as the management told him that he would bat at No.3, he would have panicked," Ramesh said. "His strength is batting at 0/0 with the anticipation of whether he's going to hit a six or four off his first delivery."

He did not fault the thinking behind the move. Breaking up the opening pair would have carried its own cost, Ramesh said, and his objection was narrower: the teenager does not yet have the experience at No. 3, and was asked instead to react to a situation.

What India must settle before Tuesday

The options are narrow. India can move Samson up to No. 3 and open with someone else, hand Sooryavanshi the role again on the argument that he will learn it only by batting there, or bring Kushagra into the XI.

Shreyas Iyer's side have won both matches so far without having to answer the question, which is its own kind of warning. A chase that turns awkward in Wellington will ask it directly.

Kishan's own return is the simplest answer, and the one India do not yet control. The board has given no timeline beyond the second match, and two games of the series remain after Tuesday.

India can take an unassailable lead in the five-match series when the third T20I begins in Wellington on Tuesday, with Kishan's fitness still in the hands of the board's medical staff.

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