Overview:
Varun was rested for the third and fourth T20Is. Meanwhile, Bishnoi is not a part of the World Cup squad, but he was brought back to replace the injured all-rounder Washington Sundar for the five-match assignment against the Kiwis.
India have made three changes in their playing XI for the fifth and final T20I against New Zealand at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on January 31. With the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 a week away, the team management decided to give a chance to the regulars. Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Ravi Bishnoi were dropped, with Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel and Varun Chakravarthy returning to the team.
Axar was injured in the series opener and missed the next three games. He was recalled after recovering from his finger injury. Ishan missed the fourth contest due to a niggle, and the decision-makers decided to add him to the playing group, considering his form.
Varun was rested for the third and fourth T20Is. Meanwhile, Bishnoi is not a part of the World Cup squad, but he was brought back to replace the injured all-rounder Washington Sundar for the five-match assignment against the Kiwis.
Playing XIs
New Zealand: 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
India: 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