India National Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Match: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bowl in the first T20I against India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Wednesday, January 21,2026. Santner said the pitch looked good for batting and expected a high-scoring contest. Kristian Clarke will make his T20I debut for the visitors, who are fielding three seamers in their attack.
“We are going to bowl first. Looks like a pretty good wicket and looks pretty high-scoring. Last week was pretty special. Every team knows how hard it is to come to India and won but this is a fresh series and they are a tough team in home conditions. Great start for us in terms of prep for the World Cup. Three seamers. Clarke makes his debut, Jamieson and Duffy are playing as well,” he said.
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav confirmed Ishan Kishan would bat at No. 3 in Tilak Varma’s absence. Four players – Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav – are missing out of India’s playing XI.
India vs New Zealand 1st T20I Playing XIs
New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Robinson, Devon Conway(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
