New Zealand National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Match: India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first in the second T20 International against New Zealand on Friday, January 23, 2026. India made two changes to the playing XI. Spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowler Harshit Rana were included in the side. Jasprit Bumrah, who went wicketless in the first match, was rested. All-rounder Axar Patel missed out after picking up an injury in the opening game. India lead the three-match series 1-0 after a dominant 48-run win in Nagpur. With the ICC T20 World Cup approaching, the hosts will look to continue their strong form at home.
Explaining the decision at the toss, Suryakumar said the team wanted to chase due to the presence of dew. He added that India had not chased much in recent games and wanted to improve in that area.
“We are going to bowl first. There is already little bit of dew out there, we haven't chased in recent times, so we want to chase. I think it (the pitch) looks good. I think it's the same wicket they said, which was used for the ODI series. I think we play every game, we try and improve on all the aspects. We never get perfect. We are always learning. But yeah, we look to do the same things again. We try and do the same thing in the bowling department, fielding and batting. We have two changes - Axar is missing out because he got hit in the last game. And Bumrah is resting tonight. So Harshit and Kuldeep come in,” SKY said.
New Zealand also made three changes as they look to bounce back in the series. Tim Seifert and Matt Henry returned to the side, while Zakary Foulkes was also included. Seifert replaced Tim Robinson, Foulkes came in for Christian Clark, and Henry replaced Kyle Jamieson. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his team would also have preferred to bowl first, citing the wet outfield. He said the side had learned lessons from the first match and needed to be clearer with bowling plans against a strong Indian batting line-up.
“We would have also bowled. I just think the ground’s already wet. I don’t think it’s going to get any better for us. Every time you play against a quality side in their home conditions, you’ve got to learn, and we did. Obviously, the way they came out with the bat throughout the whole innings, they came out pretty hard. So we know that now on the bowling side. We’ve just got to be a little bit clearer with our plans and try to squeeze them a little bit more. We’ve got three changes - Seifert for Robinson, Clark is out, Zak Foulkes is in, and Matt Henry is in for Jamieson,” Santner said.
India Playing XI:
Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
New Zealand Playing XI:
Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.
