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SportsCricket

Santner finally wins a toss and sends India in at Hamilton as Bhuvneshwar and Varun return

After four straight losses at the coin, New Zealand's captain chose to bowl in the fifth T20I at Seddon Park. India brought back Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Chakravarthy, leaving out Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel.

From the editorial desk · HamiltonPublished
India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and India captain Shreyas Iyer (file photo)
India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar and India captain Shreyas Iyer (file photo)Photos: Ipl / Wikimedia Commons; The Tigers Squadron / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Key points

  1. Mitchell Santner won his first toss of the series and chose to bowl at Seddon Park.
  2. India brought in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Chakravarthy for Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel.
  3. New Zealand made one change, with Blair Tickner replacing Matt Fisher.

Mitchell Santner had lost the toss in all four matches of the series, and he said he expected the same again. Instead, New Zealand’s captain won the toss at Seddon Park on Sunday and chose to bowl first in the fifth and final T20I, sending India in to bat.

“I just assumed I’d lose the toss,” Santner said. “We’ll have a bowl. Obviously a new pitch. Might be a little bit of dew later.” He made one change to the side that won by 87 runs at Eden Park on Friday, with Blair Tickner coming in for Matt Fisher.

New Zealand fast bowler Blair Tickner (file photo)
Blair Tickner, who came into New Zealand's XI in place of Matt Fisher for the final T20I.Dave Morton / Wikimedia

India, who already lead the series 3-1, made two changes. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, dropped for Friday’s game, and spinner Varun Chakravarthy replaced Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi again stayed on the bench.

Shreyas Iyer said India would have batted anyway. “We were looking to bat, wanted to test ourselves batting first,” he said, before giving Phillips his due for Friday’s century. “Credit where it’s due, Phillips played an incredible knock.”

He also had warm words for the returning Bhuvneshwar. “He’s been waiting for his opportunity and even in the huddle he gave a beautiful speech today,” Iyer said.

The teams

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

India: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (capt), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.

Play began at 12:30 pm IST. The five-match ODI series between the two sides starts in Auckland on 4 November.