BCCI Photo
India have already taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. They won the first three matches to seal the series before New Zealand bounced back with an 87-run victory in the fourth T20I. After losing the toss in the first four matches, Santner got his first win at the coin toss. Both teams made two changes to their playing XIs for the final game. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was once again left out of the playing XI. The teenager has featured in only two matches in the series, coming into the side when Ishan Kishan was injured.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner finally won a toss in the five-match T20I series and elected to bowl first in the fifth and final match against India at Seddon Park on Sunday.
So want to have a feel of how the wicket will play in the first innings,” Iyer said. And we were looking to bat as well. Absolutely, we wanted to test ourselves batting first, you know, all the four games we chased.
Because of an abdominal side strain suffered during the Afghanistan series, varun returned after missing the one-off T20I against Japan and the Asian Games.
India captain Shreyas Iyer said the team wanted to bat first and test themselves after chasing in all four previous matches. But it’s important that we go by instincts and see to it that we bowl according to the plan and also what the wicket requires. [On the team changes and Varun’s opportunity] We’ve got two changes. So he’s pumped up and he’s looking forward for this contest,” he said.
“[On India’s plans after the defeat in Auckland] In Auckland the dimensions were different. Bowlers had a little bit of different plans against certain batsmen. But also credit where it’s due. Phillips, he played exceptional knock. Varun comes in and Bhuvi comes in. Yes, absolutely. Bhuvneshwar was dropped for the fourth T20I after failing to make a big impact in his first three matches of the series.
He’s been waiting for his opportunity and today I feel that even in the huddle, he gave us a beautiful speech.