New Zealand tour of India 2026 | 2nd T20I | Preview and Predictions

The Abhishek Sharma storm blew New Zealand away last time out as hosts India started the five-match T20I series with a comfortable 48-run win.

With the T20 World Cup right around the corner, the Men in Blue will look to finalise the minute details before beginning their World Cup defence.

For the second T20I between India and New Zealand, here we present our preview and predictions.

New Zealand tour of India 2026 | 2nd T20I | 19:00 IST, January 23, 2026

Having been put into bat, India didn’t have the best of starts as Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan went back to the pavilion inside three overs. After being 27/2, it was Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav who got going with the rebuild.

Sharma, in his typical style, went hammer and tongs all around. Unstoppable as he took apart the New Zealand bowlers; Sharma’s 84 from 35 saw India race away to 126/2. More important for the hosts, however, was Suryakumar Yadav finally getting some runs under his belt. Yadav getting into some kind of form right before the World Cup will be a welcome sign for India.

India suffered a mini-collapse in the middle as well, before Rinku Singh powered them to 238 with a quick-fire 44* off 20. Alongside all-rounders like Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, and Axar Patel, Singh becomes a viable option for the Team India management.

With the ball, it was India’s premier spinner, Varun Chakravarthy, who proved to be the game-changer. Arshdeep Singh was clinical at the start, as he and Pandya gave India a good start before Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman threatened to take the game away. Jasprit Bumrah in the middle and late overs kept the run rate in check, with Dube and Sharma also making interesting cameos.

Fielding will be a cause of concern for India, however, with their players having made a meal of multiple catches. The game could’ve been over much quicker had the Indian fielders held on to their catches.

For New Zealand, chasing 239 was always going to be a daunting task; losing two in the opening two overs put them further on the back foot. Barring Glenn Phillips’ electrifying 78 and his 79-run partnership with Mark Chapman, the Kiwis didn’t show a lot of promise.

Daryl Mitchell, who is coming off a sublime ODI series, came in at No. 6, raising a few eyebrows given how low his spot was, and while Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner got decent starts, they weren’t able to build on it.

With the ball, other than the ever-impressive Jacob Duffy, the Kiwi bowlers took a major hammering. Duffy’s 2/27 in his four overs made him the only NZ bowler who went under ten runs per over, as all of his teammates disappeared.

The decision to bowl Daryl Mitchell in the 20th over, when the more experienced bowlers like Ish Sodhi and Santner himself had overs left, backfired massively, as Mitchell conceded 21 runs to give India a late surge before getting on the field.

Raipur has hosted only a handful of international games, and in those games it has proved to be a high-scoring ground.

Given how strong India have started the series with the bat, we have them as our favourites once again to win this game thanks to their squad firepower.

Fantasy XI: Abhishek Sharma (c), Devon Conway (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Mitchell Santner, Varun Chakravarthy (vc), Jasprit Bumrah, Matt Henry

Venue: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Nava Raipur
Winners Prediction: India