Toss India opt to bat v New Zealand
India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first in the fifth – and final – T20I at Bay Oval, the visitors having already secured an unassailable 4-0 lead.
While India rested Virat Kohli, ahead of the two-match Test series that follows, Kane Williamson sat out again, having not recovered sufficiently from the shoulder injury he had sustained in the field during the third game. In the absence of the local boy at Mount Maunganui, Tim Southee stood in as captain once again.
The Sharma-Kohli swap aside, India made no other change. Sharma also confirmed that Sanju Samson would continue to open with KL Rahul. New Zealand, meanwhile, named the same XI that went down to India in the Super Over in Wellington. This meant power-hitter Tom Bruce and seam-bowling allrounder Daryl Mitchell got another opportunity to prove themselves.
Ross Taylor is featuring in his 100th T20I, and was handed a special cap by Martin Guptill. Taylor became the second New Zealander, after Suzie Bates, to the milestone.
New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Bruce, 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Tim Southee (capt), 10 Hamish Bennett, 11 Scott Kuggleijn
India: 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Rohit Sharma (capt), 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Navdeep Saini, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
Source: ESPN Crickinfo