India won the T20I series despite dropping the final two games in Auckland and Hamilton.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir highly praised T20I captain Shreyas Iyer following the conclusion of their hard-fought five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
India clinched a 3-2 series victory on New Zealand soil. The Men in Blue displayed clinical form to establish an unassailable lead across the initial three matches before dropping the final two games in Auckland and Hamilton.
Gambhir's post-series comments explicitly targeted the context of the win rather than the late-series stumbles. He highlighted that India travelled to New Zealand without frontline bowling stars and Iyer had to defend targets and restrict New Zealand using a highly inexperienced attack.
“Shreyas has done a fabulous job with so much inexperience in the bowling lineup because, as a captain, you’re only as good as how your bowlers or your batters perform, especially with an inexperienced attack. I think he’s done a phenomenal job,” Gambhir said at the post-match press conference after the fifth and final T20I on Sunday (November 1).
Shreyas Iyer's transition into India's T20I captaincy in 2026 has been a high-stakes journey marked by initial setbacks, a stark rebuilding phase, and historic personal milestones.
Taking the reins from Suryakumar Yadav in June, Iyer faced intense scrutiny following early series losses to Ireland and England, but the team bounced back to win the Asian Games gold and the series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand. In between, the five-match series against Wekm,st Indies ended in a draw.
“When Shreyas took over, he took over a very successful team. A team that had won the World Cup and hadn't lost a T20I series in two years. Obviously, we had challenging opposition after the World Cup,” Gambhir added.
Gambhir continued. “We went to England (lost there as well as in Ireland) and we had given a lot of new guys that opportunity as well. We did lack a lot of experience, especially when you tour places like England and New Zealand,”
“But this is a great opportunity as well, that if you start thinking of building for the next World Cup, you've got to give young players the opportunity and try and develop them while being on the road as well,”
Gautam Gambhir emphasized that given the Indian squad’s logistical fatigue, lack of acclimatization, and the influx of young players touring New Zealand for the first time, clinching the series victory against an experienced Kiwi side in their home conditions was a great achievement.
“First of all, it’s an incredible effort because boys got only one day to prepare. Different conditions, different weather conditions, different dimensions, playing against a quality side like New Zealand in their backyard with the amount of experience they had in T20 cricket, plus most of the boys touring New Zealand for the first time," Gambhir stated.
“My view is that after one practice session, after taking a 15-hour flight, if guys can deliver that kind of a performance, especially against a quality side, I think a lot of credit needs to go to this side; this is an achievement which I think we should always talk about," he remarked.