India crushed New Zealand badly. (Photo- PTI)
IND vs NZ 5th T20I: Before the T20 World Cup 2026, the Indian team played its last series against New Zealand. Team India defeated the visiting team 4-1 in the T20 series in 5 matches. India had captured the series by winning the first three matches. But in the fourth match the Kiwi team was successful in winning. But Team India ended the series with a big victory. The last match of the series was played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, in which Team India won by 46 runs.
Team India made a score like a mountain
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss in this match and decided to bat first and the team scored a huge score of 271 runs at the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened in the beginning of the Indian innings, but both were out on the score of 42 runs. After this, Ishan Kishan batted in a stormy style and completed his brilliant century by scoring 103 runs in just 43 balls. Which included 6 fours and 10 sixes.
Suryakumar Yadav also played captaincy innings and scored 63 runs in 30 balls. Hardik Pandya played an important inning of 42 runs in 17 balls. On the other hand, among the New Zealand bowlers, Lockie Ferguson and Kyle Jamieson took maximum 2-2 wickets, but they looked helpless in front of the Indian batsmen.
Arshdeep Singh opened his claws
New Zealand had a fast start to chase the target. Finn Allen gave a strong start to the team by scoring 80 runs in 38 balls. Rachin Ravindra also added 30 runs in 17 balls. Both of them made a partnership of 100 runs for the second wicket. But after this the Indian bowlers showed wonders. Arshdeep Singh took 5 wickets, Akshar Patel took 3 and Varun Chakraborty took 1 wicket. Due to which the New Zealand team was all out after scoring 225 runs in 19.4 overs.