Santner Breaks Toss Streak as New Zealand Chases Series Level
New Zealand recalled Blair Tickner and chose to bowl first after winning the coin flip for the first time in five days.
By Natalie Cooper ·
Mitchell Santner won the coin toss in Hamilton.
The New Zealand captain elected to field in the fifth and final Twenty20 match against India on Sunday. This marked the first time either side had chosen to bowl after winning the toss in this series.
Shreyas Iyer won the toss in the first four matches. India secured the series lead by winning the opening three games by four wickets, four wickets, and six wickets. New Zealand responded with an 87 run victory in Auckland on Friday. Glenn Phillips scored a century to lead that win.
India adjusted its XI for the decider. Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to the pace attack, while Varun Chakravarthi earned his first start of the tournament. New Zealand replaced Matt Fisher with Blair Tickner in the bowling lineup.
The New Zealand side features Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Jacob Duffy, and Blair Tickner. India fields Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthi, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Source: Greenwich Time
