🏏New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I in Raipur @7 PM IST🏏

🏏New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I in Raipur @ 7 PM IST🏏

In the aftermath of the Nagpur T20I, Mitchell Santner shrugged and spoke like the captain of a team that had scored 190 and still lost by 48 runs.

"There's no real 'try and squeeze a couple of dot-ball moments' with this team [India], you've just got to be on from ball one to win it."

This isn't hyperbole. India's unparalleled success in a format where consistency is hardest to sustain, has its roots in batting. This is no slight on the bowling, which has its own generational quality, but it is the batters who have dictated this team's fortunes. And those returns haven't dipped, even after the highs of winning the World Cup two years ago.

Now with less than a month to go for a home World Cup, India got rid of combination complications they ran into briefly, and are lining up again as the team to beat. Nagpur re-told much of that narrative, and Raipur offers the second of five such chances for India to perfect the pointy ends of their shiny daggers.

Within the four walls of the New Zealand dressing room, Santner will perhaps tell his troops that they are not far from a win. Batters will get a pat on the back and bowlers the encouragement to push just a little harder, plan a touch better. But the idea of 'belief' can't be arbitrary. It will be about narrowing margins, stretching moments, and seeing if they can collectively push back against the sense of inevitability India seem to carry into this most volatile of formats.

And like in Nagpur, India will be up for it. To blunt such efforts, reinforce the world order and continue offering sermons of this T20I truth.

When: India vs New Zealand, 2nd T20I, January 23, 7:00 PM IST

Where: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur

What to expect: A big partisan crowd. The stadium in Raipur is a 60K seater, and should fill up well on Friday evening. There is also a bit of an unknown to the conditions as the venue has hosted just one T20I before - between India and Australia back in 2023. Most recently, there was an ODI in December 2025 where India posted 358 and South Africa chased it down.

Team News:

India

Axar Patel left the field midway through his fourth over in Nagpur with a bleeding left index finger, struck by a shot from Daryl Mitchell. The short turnaround time doesn't offer much scope for full recovery if the hit was severe.

If he's out, India could be saddled with combination woes. Kuldeep Yadav as a second spinner in place of Axar adds up, but it weakens the batting depth. India have an ideal like-for-like option in their World Cup squad in Washington Sundar, who is currently nursing a side strain and is ruled out of the series.

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun CV

New Zealand

It might be too early in a five-match series to ring in changes, but New Zealand could be tempted by the idea of bringing in the experience of Matt Henry in place of one of the quicks.

Probable XI: Tim Robinson, Devon Conway (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Kristian Clarke/Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy

Did you know:

- 35.8% of Rinku Singh's career T20I runs have come in 19th and 20th over of an innings (213 runs).

- Sanju Samson's contrasting T20I fortunes: 436 runs at a strike rate of 180.16 in 2024; 22 runs at a strike rate of 126.85 in 2025. What's in store in 2026?

- Since 2025, Glenn Phillips has scored 500 runs in 16 T20I innings at a strike rate of 149.70

- Among spinners who have bowled a minimum of 50 T20I overs in India, Mitchell Santner has the third-best economy rate (6.80), only behind Rashid Khan (5.99) and Ravindra Jadeja (6.77).

What they said:

"I don't feel it [six-hitting] is a high risk game. I wouldn't say it's my comfort zone, but it's like I've always wanted the team to be first [priority]. Because they want to use the first six overs [well]. That's what I've been practicing in the nets as well." - Abhishek Sharma on his methods.

"I think he's shown his class over the last few years for us. He's kind of taken that senior bowling role for us and when he swings it up top, it's nice." - Mitchell Santner onJacob Duffy.

Big picture - Last hurdle before World Cup

India have started this series reiterating their strength and putting the world on notice. Losing the toss, asked to bat first in a night game, they blazed away to 238, looking far from the team that has lost both their last Test and ODI series at home to New Zealand. Swap Ishan Kishan with the injured Tilak Varma, and you have a full-strength India side. This being the last series before the T20 World Cup, India will not want to let up any of the intensity as they stay in central India and move from Nagpur to Raipur.

New Zealand have their task cut out against a side that has now won 10 T20I series or tournaments in a row, including the World Cup and the Asia Cup. They have only grown stronger along the way. Then again, when New Zealand won the Tests, India had not lost a home series in 12 years. Their ODI series also was their first series triumph in India. They will be desperate to win in Raipur and not be left with three must-win matches in a row.

In the spotlight - Mitchell Santner and Abhishek Sharma

New Zealand rarely get called out on tactics, but their captain Mitchell Santner came under fire for not bowling out in Nagpur and letting Daryl Mitchell bowl the last over. Santner perhaps wanted to deny the left-hand batter a look at his left-arm spin in the last over, but overall he will want to improve on his figures of three overs for 37 runs. He did get Suryakumar Yadav out, though, and will want to display some of his chops.

Abhishek Sharma remains a problem for Santner and Ish Sodhi. He took 15 off 5 from Santner, and 24 off 10 from Sodhi. And that just resulted in problems for New Zealand right till the end of the innings. If they don't get Abhishek out early, they are likely to have the same problems again.

Team news

Axar Patel suffered a cut on his index finger and didn't finish his spell. He should be okay to go as India have not asked for a replacement but if they do decide to play safe with him they could play Harshit Rana in his place.

India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Sanju Samson (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt.), 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shivam Dube, 8 Harshit Rana/Axar Patel, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy

If Michael Bracewell, who is recovering from his calf strain, is ready, he could replace Sodhi to provide further depth. Matt Henry could come in for one of the fast bowlers, possibly Kyle Jamieson, who has played every match on this trip.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Tim Robinson, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Glenn Phillips, 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt.), 8 Kristian Clarke, 9 Michael Bracewell/ Ish Sodhi, 10 Kyle Jamieson/ Matt Henry, 11 Jacob Duffy

Pitch and conditions

In the only T20I in Raipur so far, India successfully defended 174 by a margin of 20 runs against Australia in 2023. The last of the IPL matches that Raipur hosted was in 2016 so that won't tell us anything about the conditions expected. For what it's worth, chasing teams have won four and lost two in IPL matches in Raipur. The weather is pleasant.

Stats and trivia

• Nobody from a Full Member team has hit more T20I sixes than Abhishek Sharma since the last World Cup: 81. Sahibzada Farhan is a distant second with 47.

• Similarly, Varun Chakravarthy leads the wickets chart with 55 followed by Jacob Duffy at 44.

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