New Zealand National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Match: India won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand in the fifth and final T20 international of the series at the Greenfield International Stadium on Saturday, January 31, 2026. India have already sealed the five-match series 3-1, while New Zealand will look to end the tour with a win. The match also serves as an opportunity for both sides to test combinations ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup.
India have made a few changes, with Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan and Varun Chakaravarthy returning to the playing XI. New Zealand brought in Finn Allen in place of Devon Conway, while Kyle Jamieson, Bevon Jacobs and Lockie Ferguson were also included.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav said the decision was taken to test the side in conditions expected to be affected by dew later in the evening. "We are going to bat first. We were here last night. There were a lot of dew. So we want to test our bowlers by defending the total tonight. Looks like a good wicket. We had a good hit last night and the curator said it's going to play true for the next 40 overs, no grass and it is going to be a good one. We have three changes - Axar comes back, Ishan comes back and one more. Whatever it is, Trivandrum, Sanju Samson is playing tonight (laughs). He's (Tilak) just taking his time to play a few practice games. He's been a good player for us. When he comes back, it's going to be a solid side. But yeah, we're really waiting for him. We've almost covered all the departments, batting, bowling and fielding. But yeah, every time you do something, you try and learn something out of it and then take it to the next game," SKY said.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said conditions appeared slightly different, with less dew expected due to windy weather. " A little more windy, it might not be as dewy as the other night, but it's another opportunity for us to, I guess, bowl first. We've batted a few times this series, so, yeah, something different, I guess. We have got four changes - Allen in for Conway, Bevon Jacobs is in for Chapman, Kyle Jamieson for Foulkes and Lockie in place of Henry. (why is Henry not playing?) Yeah, it's just all precautionary stuff. I guess we're rotating around the bowlers a bit. For us, it's another opportunity tonight to put on a good performance, same with India, that next week's where it's crunch time for us. It's nice to always have Finn back in. And Lockie, we know how good he is as well. So, good opportunity tonight to see what these Indian pitches look like for Finn. Probably a little different from Perth where he's been. But, yeah, it's another good opportunity for us to see what he can do," Santner said.
Playing XIs:
New Zealand: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Bevon Jacobs, Mitchell Santner (capt.), Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy.
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (capt.), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.
