India and New Zealand’s captains, Suryakumar Yadav and Mitchell Santner, stepped out to have the coin toss conducted ahead of the IND vs NZ 4th T20I at Vizag’s ACA VDCA Stadium.
The former won the toss, and elected to bowl first. Here’s what he said:
“We’re going to bowl first. It looks like a good wicket, and we’ll get a chance to practise here later. There was a lot of dew last night and today it’s a little humid as well, so we feel that in the second innings the ball will come onto the bat nicely. I think the important thing is to repeat the good habits we’ve built over the past year, not just in this series.“
India has enjoyed a pretty good record at this venue in white-ball cricket, with a majority of wins among all ODI and T20I fixtures. Hence, New Zealand will have their task cut out for them in this clash.
IND vs NZ 4th T20I: Playing XI
India – Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
New Zealand – Tim Seifert (WK), Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (C), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy
India vs New Zealand T20 Series: The Story So Far
It has been a tale of outright dominance from the Men in Blue so far, especially in the last two matches, driven by the depth and firepower of their batting lineup.
Abhishek Sharma has continued providing the team with solid starts at the top. While his partner, Sanju Samson, has struggled for runs, he has been thrashing bowlers left and right.
Joining him in this demolition job is Ishan Kishan, who on his long-awaited return to the national team, has taken everyone by surprise and impressed perhaps more than anyone else.
Suryakumar Yadav has also returned to form, with two cracking innings in the second and third fixtures.
The result has been such that India have chased their targets of 209 and 154 in just 15.2 and 10 overs, respectively, making a complete mockery of the Kiwi bowling attack.
Needless to say, they would be looking to carry on with the momentum into the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, which they enter as defending champions and co-hosts.
