Shreyas Iyer makes two changes to India playing XI
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bowl first in the final T20I at Seddon Park.
India captain Shreyas Iyer made two changes to his side for the fifth and final T20I against New Zealand at Seddon Park on Sunday. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Chakravarthy returned to the playing XI, replacing Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss after losing the previous four tosses in the series and chose to bowl first. The visitors included Blair Tickner in their lineup instead of Matt Fisher.
Teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was omitted from the playing XI once again. He has appeared in only two matches during the series after being called up due to an Ishan Kishan injury.
Iyer said the team wanted to bat first to test themselves after chasing in all four previous matches. He noted that the team wanted to see how the wicket behaves during the first innings.
Bhuvneshwar had been left out of the fourth T20I following his performance in the first three games. Chakravarthy returned to the side after missing the one-off T20I against Japan and the Asian Games due to an abdominal side strain.
India currently holds an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. New Zealand won the fourth T20I by 87 runs after India won the first three matches.