IND vs NZ 5th T20I: Mitchell Santner opts to field at Seddon Park

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to field in the fifth and final Twenty20 International against India at Seddon Park on November 1, 2026. India hold a 3-1 lead in the five-match series going into the decider.

India arrived in Hamilton after a short turnaround from the West Indies tour, a point acknowledged by head coach Gautam Gambhir as he praised the squad's adaptation and said there is no room for complacency despite the series being sealed. Captain Shreyas Iyer said, "they were going to bat first anyway, as they wanted to test themselves and get a feel for how the wicket behaves in the first innings." Iyer also confirmed two changes, with Varun Chakaravarthy and Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming into the XI.

Santner, who led his side out for the national anthems, said the surface "looks like a new pitch and there might be a bit of dew later on," and noted seamers had found something in the wicket in the previous game. New Zealand made one change to their side with Blair Tickner coming in for Matthew Fisher.

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner.

India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (WK), Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy. (The matchday XI was also listed with Bhuvneshwar Kumar in for Mayank Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy in for Axar Patel.)

The pre-match routine included both national anthems and the captains leading their teams onto the park; Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened for India and Jacob Duffy took the new ball. Duffy beat Samson with his early deliveries before Samson opened the scoring with a single to get India underway.

Glenn Phillips remains New Zealand's standout batter in the series, having accumulated 276 runs in four matches according to CricViz, while Michael Bracewell made a fifty in Auckland. Only Mark Chapman, with 290 runs against Pakistan in 2023, has scored more for New Zealand in a five-match bilateral T20I series, and the all-format benchmark of 331 runs was set by England's Phil Salt in 2023; Phillips needs another 56 runs to go past that mark.

India's bowling unit has had mixed returns: Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken one wicket in three matches while conceding 139 runs at an economy of 11.58, and Arshdeep Singh is the only Indian with an economy rate below 10 in the series. Spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule indicated Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy are ready if conditions demand, though selecting either would likely mean omitting Naman Dhir and reducing India's batting depth. Sanju Samson's returns have been 67, 14, 18 and 4 in the series while Iyer has recorded scores of 40, 1, 16, 22, 42, 7, 5 and 22 in his last eight T20I innings.

The match is scheduled to start at 12:30 PM on November 1, 2026; live telecast will be on Sony Sports Network channels and live streaming will be available on the Sony LIV app and website. India will aim to finish the T20I series with a win before the teams move on to the forthcoming five-match ODI series.