India may have pocketed the IND vs NZ T20I series with wins in the first three T20Is, but a huge defeat in the 4th T20I in Auckland would have hurt the Men in Blue. More so since they had made the unpopular decision of dropping Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India went down by a whopping 87 runs after conceding 259 as Glenn Phillips hammered a sensational century.
The last game of the five-match India vs New Zealand T20I series will be played on Sunday, November 1, in Hamilton.
Once again the headache for captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir would be regarding Sooryavanshi, who blasted 45 off 19 balls in the 3rd T20I and formed an unbelievable opening partnership of 133 runs in 7 overs with Abhishek Sharma.
Sooryavanshi had played in the 3rd T20I as Ishan Kishan was injured, with Sanju Samson pushed to No. 3. But the 15-year-old was promptly dropped when Kishan returned to the No. 3 spot.
The spotlight will once again be on Samson, who has been inconsistent after his epic hat-trick of fifties in the T20 World Cup.
He hit centuries during the IPL but lacked consistency, managing a total of only three fifty-plus outings. Similarly, he has notched up five fifties in 19 innings for India since Iyer took over the captaincy, but Kerala star has fallen cheaply in his non-fifty knocks.
Samson’s last three scores are 14, 18, and 4. Interestingly, in the previous match, it was Kishan who did the wicket-keeping duties despite Samson’s presence.
With the series already decided, it seems very much probable that the Iyer-Gambhir think-tank would once again unleash Sooryavanshi at the top of the order with Abhishek.
Further, more changes could be seen in the India playing XI in the middle-order and bowling attack. Given that the ODI series kicks off on November 4, players like Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Arshdeep Singh could get a rest.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who endured three horrendous outings on his India comeback, might get one more chance, while the management could also ponder over giving an opportunity to one of Kuldeep Yadav or Varun Chakravarthy, two spinners who were crucial in India’s triumph at the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
IND vs NZ: India playing XI for 5th T20I – Predicted ft. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi returns
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- Abhishek Sharma
- Ishan Kishan (wk)
- Tilak Varma
- Shreyas Iyer (C)
- Shivam Dubey
- Plant Man
- Varun Chakraborty/Kuldeep Yadav
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar
- Prince Yadav
- Mayank Yadav
New Zealand, on the other hand, are expected to go unchanged with the aim of gaining momentum ahead of the ODI series.
When and where is India vs New Zealand 5th T20I?
The 5th and last T20I of the IND vs NZ series is scheduled to kick off at 12:30 PM IST on November 1, Sunday. The match will be played at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
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