The final T20I before the T20 World Cup 2026 kicks in. Yes, both India and New Zealand will be playing a warm-up game each but the final dress rehearsal will be this. The series is already won by the Suryakumar Yadav-led side and they would love to hold the trophy with a 4-1 margin. As for New Zealand, they would have gained a much-needed confidence after the win in Vizag. The arrival of Finn Allen would also make things easy for them.
Axar Patel Injury Update for IND vs NZ 5th T20I
Axar Patel has been on the sidelines for the majority of the India vs New Zealand T20I series. He sustained a cut on his left index finger while attempting to field off his own bowling in the opening T20I in Nagpur. He bowled 3.3 overs in that game before Abhishek Sharma completed the over of his quota.
With Axar being India’s T20I vice-captain, the management didn’t take any risk with him and benched the star all-rounder for the next three games. However, Axar was seen bowling in the nets ahead of the fourth T20I. Even during the toss, captain Suryakumar confirmed that the left-armer needed a bit more rest but will (hopefully) be available for the fifth T20I. Hence, there’s a fair chance he would play in the Trivandrum T20I, scheduled to take place on January 31.
Harshit Rana could be the one who can make way for Patel as the latter is the first-choice member of the team.
Will Ishan Kishan comeback?
Another player who missed out in the previous game was Ishan Kishan. The dynamic southpaw started the series since Tilak Varma was unavailable. Had Tilak been fit to play, Kishan might have started on the bench. But Kishan has made the most of his chances and has mustered 112 runs at an unbelievable strike rate of 224.00 in 3 innings. He was the game changer in the second T20I before going berserk in the third T20I.
However, he had to sit out in the 4th game due to a niggle. The southpaw is expected to be fine for the January 31st game and might come back in place of Hardik Pandya. Pandya could be rested just because of workload management. He didn’t bowl a single over in the last game and played as a pure batter. Hence, India might rest Pandya altogether and have a look at Kishan one more time.
Predicted India Playing XI vs NZ, 4th T20I
Abhishek Sharma Sanju Samson (wk) Ishan Kishan Suryakumar Yadav (C) Shivam Dube Rinku Singh Axar Patel Kuldeep Yadav Arshdeep Singh Jasprit Bumrah Varun Chakaravarthy On Bench: Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Hardik PandyaPredicted India Playing XI vs NZ, 5th T20I: Will Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan return? Inside Sport India.
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