New Zealand National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Match: India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bowl first against New Zealand in the third T20 International of the five-match series at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday, January 25, 2026. India lead the series 2-0 after winning the first two matches and will look to seal the series, while New Zealand must win to keep the series alive. India made two changes to their playing XI, resting Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi were included in the side.
Suryakumar said the team wanted to chase and repeat the good habits shown in the earlier matches. "We'll look to bowl first, the wicket looks good and there will be a little bit of dew later on. So, I would like to chase tonight. (Message to the teammates) I think let's let's try and repeat the good habits, be the same way, enjoy, be fearless, take your own calls when you're inside because two batters or bowlers who are bowling, I think they're the best to judge inside. Enjoy it and at the same time be a little humble as well. It's always good, someone like Shivam, Hardik and some days Abhishek Sharma chipping in one or two overs. It's always a big boost. Hardik has been doing that for India for a very long time. Shivam Dube is doing it recently. So it's a big boost and we're very happy with it. We've two changes - Arshdeep and Varun resting tonight. Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi come in," SKY said.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his side batted well in the previous game and aimed to take learnings forward. He confirmed one change in the team, with Kyle Jamieson coming in for Foulkes, while Neesham missed out due to injury."I think it (wicket) will be pretty good again. With the batters, seeing what it does and then try to put a good score on the board. I thought we batted quite well (in the last game), we played the game pretty well and then with the ball, we came up against a very strong team with good hitting. So I guess taking the learnings from the last game and trying to put them into this game. You have to move on pretty quickly. I guess the nature of the series is we roll around really quickly. With the nature of different games in different cities, you have to turn up and see what it's gonna do and then go again. So that's what we gotta do tonight. Neesh (Neesham) was gonna play, but he's crooked. So we've brought in Jamieson for Foulkes," Santner said.
India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I Playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy
