NZ vs IND, 5th T20I Preview: Upbeat India Look For Series Sweep Against New Zealand

India, after beating New Zealand in back-to-back Super Overs, will be eyeing their first-ever Twenty20 International series sweep in New Zealand as the two teams lock horns in the fifth and final game of the five-match series in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. After beating New Zealand in consecutive Super Overs, India will have a rare chance to clean sweep the T20I series against New Zealand who have never lost all matches in a bilateral T20I series (three or more games) at home.

After the win at Sky Stadium in Wellington, India batsman Manish Pandey said that the team is looking to make it 5-0 on Sunday.

"We have an opportunity to make it 5-0 and it will be really amazing to do that. Come the fifth match, we will look to go 5-0 up, that is our plan. Nobody has done it before and especially India has not done it before. So, I think it will be a great start to do that," Manish Pandey had said in the post-match presentation.

In the fourth T20I, India experimented by making three changes to their playing XI by resting Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami and fielded Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini.

While Samson and Sundar threw away their opportunities, Saini was exceptional with the ball in the penultimate over where he gave away just four runs.

On Friday, India captain Virat Kohli lavished praise on the young pacer. 

"Saini was impressive with his pace again. We were very proud with the way we went about it," Kohli had said.

India might opt to rest KL Rahul for the final T20I in Mount Maunganui and give Rishabh Pant, who has not played competitive cricket since the home series against Australia, a game.

For New Zealand, Kane Williamson is expected to be fit for the clash after he missed out in Wellington due to a left shoulder niggle.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Tom Bruce, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Hamish Bennett, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner.

Match starts at: 12.30 pm IST.

(With PTI inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Kane Williamson New Zealand vs India, 2020 New Zealand vs India, 5th T20I Cricket