New Zealand go into Sunday's fifth T20I with some momentum after stopping the rot in emphatic fashion with an 87-run win in Friday's game in Auckland.
Batting first for the fourth time in a row, the Black Caps were indebted to Glenn Phillips' belligerent 107, coming off just 49 balls, while Michael Bracewell's 25-ball 65 helped propel them from 112-4 to a mammoth 259-7.
Jacob Duffy was magnificent with the ball in claiming 4-23, with Matt Fisher and Mitchell Santner offering valuable support in taking two wickets apiece, to restrict India to 172-9 and at least chalk up a win with the series already gone.
India had, of course, won the first three matches, chasing each time, to win the series at the earliest opportunity, but will now be looking to regain the momentum ahead of the five-match ODI series, which gets under way on Wednesday.
New Zealand v India Fifth T20I Tips Summary
Best Bet - India to win @ 8/11
Alternative Bet - Glenn Phillips top New Zealand batter @ 10/3
Bet Builder - Abhishek Sharma to score 20+ runs, Mitchell Santner 2+ wickets & Mayank Yadav 1+ wicket @ 13/2
New Zealand v India Fifth T20I Prediction
Best Bet: India to win @ 8/11
India may be licking their wounds after Friday's one-sided defeat but they had won the first three matches of the series and given their strength in depth, they should be confident of bouncing back, even with nothing on the line.
The Men In Blue have a fantastic record against New Zealand, as their three wins of this series have been achieved with something in hand, enjoying victory margins of four wickets, four wickets and six wickets, while they thrashed the Black Caps by 96 runs in the T20 World Cup final.
The last series between the two followed a similar pattern in the sense that New Zealand chalked up their first win in game four, by a healthy margin of 50 runs, only for India to bounce back with a similar win of their own in the fifth.
India have lost only four of their last 20 T20Is against New Zealand and their 15 wins have largely come in decisive fashion so with the added motivation of Friday's humbling, they are more than capable of regaining the winning thread.
Alternative Bet: Glenn Phillips top New Zealand batter @ 10/3
While this may smack of jumping on a bandwagon, Glenn Phillips has enjoyed a tremendous series with the bat and still offers plenty of value to lead the way for his side once again.
The big-hitting right-hander struck an unbeaten 82 off just 40 balls to drive New Zealand to 225-4 in the first T20I, before following up with 70 in the hosts' tally of 180-5 in the second.
While neither were good enough to secure the win, he led his side's run-scoring nonetheless and emphasised his excellent form with Friday's hundred, top-scoring for New Zealand for the third time in four games.
He is arguably in the form of his life and should be oozing with confidence going into Sunday's clash.
New Zealand v India Fifth T20I Bet Builder Tip
- Abhishek Sharma to score 20+ runs
- Mitchell Santner 2+ wickets
- Mayank Yadav 1+ wicket
Pays 13/2
While not as prolific in this series as Phillips, Abhishek Sharma has still been in good nick and has got starts in each of his four innings, the highlight being his superb 113 in the third game.
He has tallied other scores of 29, 27 and 27 in this series, and has failed to reach 20 in only one of his last 10 T20 innings. Another start for the left-hander looks a good leg to open this Bet Builder.
Duffy stole the show with the ball on Friday, but Santner has been a consistent threat with the ball in hand, and he is the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine in four matches - four clear of his nearest challengers.
The Black Caps' skipper has registered figures of 2-39, 4-21, 1-17 and 2-24 and his series-leading economy rate of 6.73 highlights how hard India have found it to get him away.
Mayank Yadav looks capable of claiming another victim too, having returned to the line-up for Friday's game and finishing with figures of 3-48, which included the early wickets of Tim Seifert and Daryl Mitchell.
He removed Seifert in the series opener as well and his aggression and pace will cause plenty of problems for the hosts' top order.
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Key Match Stats
- The hosts' total of 259-7 on Friday is the highest T20 total ever scored in New Zealand
- The 87-run margin of victory in the fourth T20 was the Black Caps' biggest ever against India
- Glenn Phillips scored 107 to take his series tally to 276 runs, 80 runs clear of his nearest challenger
- Phillips has also scored the most sixes (17) and most fours (21) through four games
- Mitchell Santner is the leading wicket-taker in the series with nine, four more than Arshdeep Singh and Jacob Duffy
- India have won eight of 10 T20Is played against New Zealand in 2026
- Shreyas Iyer has won the toss in all four games so far and batted second on each occasion
Tactics, Form and Team News
Given the performance and success with both bat and ball, New Zealand are likely to keep faith with the same line-up from the fourth game.
Possible New Zealand XI: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 3 Daryl Mitchell, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Bevon Jacobs, 6 Michael Bracewell, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Matt Fisher.
With the five-game ODI series coming up next week, India might rest Arshdeep Singh in favour of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Shivam Dube will be hoping to force their way into the XI, with Sanju Samson and Nitish Kumar Reddy the most likely to make way.
Possible India XI: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar 10 Prince Yadav, 11 Mayank Yadav.
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
