India, New Zealand get one final chance to tune up before T20 World Cup
India will want Sanju Samson to get runs, while New Zealand are boosted by Finn Allen's return
Sidharth Monga
30-Jan-2026 • 6 hrs ago
Big picture: Last match before World Cup
This is it. One last match before these teams go into the T20 World Cup. And the series is not even on the line. India, who are much closer to knowing their best XI, experimented much more in the last dead rubber when they played Harshit Rana at No. 7 and continued to rest Varun Chakravarthy.
New Zealand, still figuring out an ideal structure, working around injuries and availability of players, have no reason to experiment. The latest addition to their squad is Finn Allen, fresh off topping the charts at the BBL with 466 runs at 184.18. It is important they get him used to the conditions in India, where he has played only three T20Is and three ODIs three years ago.
While New Zealand work their way through these constraints, India will be desperate to see some runs against Sanju Samson's name. No better place to do it than a full house at his home ground in Trivandrum. India pivoted from Shubman Gill to Samson at the 11th hour because Gill was not getting runs; they won't like his replacement to take the same boat into the tournament.
Form guide
India LWWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
New Zealand WLLLW
New Zealand WLLLW
In the spotlight: Devon Conway and Ishan Kishan
Both Devon Conway and Ishan Kishan have the same two questions around them: do they play, and where do they bat if they do? Conway has opened for New Zealand in all four matches, but now that Allen is here, is there room for him and if yes, in which capacity? Kishan missed the last match with a niggle, but if he is good to go, do India even try to open with him and give Abhishek Sharma a rest?
Conway is in a position where he needs to provide the team management reasons to keep him in the XI. Kishan seems to be in such good hitting form that the Indian team management might be tempted to see what he does as an opener.
Team news
It seems India didn't want to risk Axar Patel before the tournament, which might explain his absence for the last two matches, but we don't know if they feel confident enough to bring him back for this match. We don't know the nature of the niggle to Kishan but India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said that he would "very likely" play, though the physios will take the final call.
India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Ishan Kishan/Shreyas Iyer, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Harshit Rana/Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy/Kuldeep Yadav
It will be interesting to see if New Zealand give James Neesham a game before the World Cup.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt.), 8 Zak Foulkes/James Neesham, 9 Michael Bracewell/ Ish Sodhi, 10 Kyle Jamieson/Matt Henry, 11 Jacob Duffy
Pitch and conditions
Temperatures will remain in the 20s throughout the day in Trivandrum, whose last two T20 matches have both been internationals, back in 2023 and 2022. On both occasions, India won: piling up and defending a big total against Australia in 2023 and bowling South Africa out for 106 in 2022.
Stats and trivia
- Ish Sodhi is two wickets behind New Zealand's most successful T20I bowler: Tim Southee, who took 164.
- Tim Seifert needs 52 runs to become the fourth New Zealander to 2000 T20I runs.
- Suryakumar Yadav needs 33 runs to become only the 12th player in the world with 3000 T20I runs.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo