India has made three changes to their playing XI for the fifth and final T20I against New Zealand at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on January 31. With the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 just a week away, the team management has opted to bring back some regular players. Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, and Ravi Bishnoi have been dropped, while Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy have been included in the lineup.
Axar Patel missed the first few matches due to a finger injury but is now back in the team. Ishan Kishan was absent in the fourth game because of a minor injury, but he has been included again based on his recent performance.
Varun Chakravarthy was rested for the third and fourth T20Is. Although Ravi Bishnoi is not part of the World Cup squad, he was called up to replace the injured Washington Sundar for this five-match series against New Zealand.
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
