India Opt to Bat in Final T20I vs New Zealand; Key Players Return

India won the toss and chose to bat first in 5th T20I at Greenfield Stadium. India recalled Ishan Kishan, who had missed the fourth T20I due to a minor niggle, along with Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy. They dropped Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravi Bishnoi. Apart from Tilak Varma’s continued absence due to injury, this XI represents India’s near first-choice T20 lineup ahead of the World Cup warm-ups.

Suryakumar Yadav commented on the toss decision: “I wanted to put the bowlers through the rigours of defending a total in what are expected to be dewy conditions in Thiruvananthapuram.

The visitors introduced four changes, with Finn Allen returning to the national side for the first time since March 2025, fresh off his star performance in the BBL. Bevon Jacobs also came into the middle order, while pace spearheads Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson were added.

Coach Mitchell Santner explained Matt Henry’s absence: “He is out for precautionary reasons,” with Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, and Zak Foulkes also missing out.

India Playing XI for 5th T20I

1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand Playing XI for 5th T20I

1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Bevon Jacobs, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Jacob Duffy