Canada opt to bat; Mitchell leads New Zealand after 'dodgy burger' rules Santner out
New Zealand are also without Lockie Ferguson, and have brought in Cole McConchie and Kyle Jamieson; Canada have replaced Kaleem Sana with Shivam Sharma
Hemant Brar
Feb 17, 2026, 5:26 AM • 8 hrs ago
Daryl Mitchell is leading New Zealand • AFP/Getty Images
Toss Canada chose to bat vs New Zealand
Canada captain Dilpreet Bajwa won the toss and opted to bat first against New Zealand in Chennai in their T20 World Cup game on Tuesday morning.
New Zealand, who are a win from confirming a Super Eight spot, are without Mitchell Santner and Lockie Ferguson. Daryl Mitchell, who stood in for Santner, said the captain had a "dodgy burger" last night and was indisposed.
New Zealand made two changes, both forced. Cole McConchie came in for Santner and Kyle Jamieson for Ferguson, who has gone home for the birth of his first child, a change Mitchell called "like for like".
Bajwa felt the day game would help their spinners. "Later on, we might get some spin. So it's good to bat first and give them a target."
They made one change. Offspinner Shivam Sharma came in for left-arm seamer Kaleem Sana. Shivam was the leading wicket-taker at the World Cup qualifying tournament in June but hasn't played a T20I since.
New Zealand have won two and lost one of their three Group D games so far and are behind South Africa on the points table, while Canada have lost both their fixtures.
Canada: 1 Dilpreet Bajwa (capt), 2 Yuvraj Samra, 3 Navneet Dhaliwal, 4 Nicholas Kirton, 5 Shreyas Movva (wk), 6 Harsh Thaker, 7 Saad Bin Zafar, 8 Jaskaran Singh, 9 Dilon Heyliger, 10 Shivam Sharma, 11 Ansh Patel
New Zealand: 1 Tim Seifert (wk), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell (capt), 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Cole McConchie, 8 James Neesham, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Jacob Duffy
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo