Hamilton, November 1, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won his first toss of the five-match series on Sunday and elected to bowl first against India in the fifth and final T20I at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
After losing the tosses in the previous four matches, Santner finally had the coin fall in his favour. Both teams made changes to their playing XIs for the series finale.
India brought back experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and spinner Varun Chakravarthy, while Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel missed out. New Zealand included Blair Tickner in place of Matt Fisher.
Explaining his decision at the toss, Santner said the possibility of dew later in the evening and the nature of the pitch influenced his choice to bowl first.
“I just assumed I’d lose the toss. We’ll have a bowl. Obviously a new pitch. Might be a little bit of dew later. Have to adapt quickly to the dimensions. If there’s a bit of bounce like Eden Park, it will be nice. Obviously, with the bat, we’ve been good this whole series. Was obviously a bit more in the wicket the other night which was nice for the seamers. One change. Tickner is back,” Santner said.
India captain Shreyas Iyer said his team had wanted to bat first and welcomed the opportunity to test themselves in that situation.
“Great occasion to come here on this historical ground. We were looking to bat, wanted to test ourselves batting first. Auckland, the dimensions were different.
“But credit where it’s due, Phillips played an incredible knock. Two changes, Varun comes in, and Bhuvi comes in. He’s been waiting for his opportunity and even in the huddle he gave a beautiful speech today,” Shreyas said.
Bhuvneshwar returns after missing the previous match. He had featured in three T20Is earlier in the series but had not made a significant impact with the ball.
Chakravarthy is also back in the playing XI after missing the one-off T20I against Japan and the Asian Games due to an abdominal side strain sustained during the Afghanistan series.
Teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi remained on the bench. He had featured in only two matches in the ongoing series, coming into the side when Ishan Kishan was injured.
India have already secured the five-match series with an unassailable 3-1 lead. The Men in Blue won the first three games before New Zealand bounced back with a victory in the fourth T20I. Both teams will now look to finish the series on a winning note.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: Tim Seifert (w), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner.
India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.
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