India won the toss and opted to bat in the fifth and final match of the T20I series. It is the homeground of Sanju Samson and he will be hoping to come good. Inia have made three changes to their side
with Ishan Kishan, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel coming in for Bishnoi, Kuldeep and Harshit Rana. New Zealand also made a few changes with Finn Allen and Lockie Ferguson back in the side. During a practice session ahead of the 5th T20I, Bumrah was seen trying spin bowling to Shreyas Iyer. This video went viral on social media. In the video, Jasprit Bumrah can be seen bowling spin with just a few steps in his run-up. Watch the video here.
Shreyas Iyer was seen batting full tilt in the practice session but unfortunately could not make a place in the side for any of the matches in this series and with the World Cup starting just within a week, India seem keen to play their best team in the final match. The series is currently 3-1 and this will be the last match for both sides before the warm up fixtures.
Jasprit Bumrah trying spin bowling to Shreyas Iyer during a practice session at Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, ahead of the IND vs NZ 5th T20I. 😂 pic.twitter.com/MtvVA0dwmb
— Sonu (@Cricket_live247) January 31, 2026
The pressure on Sanju Samson ahead of this match is very high as his recent form has been very poor. In this series he has scores of 10,6,0 and 24. Another failure in the final T20I will put him under the scanner and with the World T20 starting his spot could be in danger if Tilak Varma becomes fit for the World Cup. The upcoming T20 World Cup will start on February 7 and India are the defending champions. This is the first match for Sanju Samson in his home ground. He has played 56 T20I matches and scored 1072 runs at a strike rate of 147 and an average of 24.36.
Meanwhile the Number 1 T20I batter in the World Abhishek Sharma has had mixed form this series, he started the series with an 84 and then in the second T20I fell for a duck, scored 68* of just 20 balls in the third T20I and in the fourth match he was dismissed for a duck.
