New Zealand will lock horns with India in the first match of the five-game T20I series at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, October 22.
New Zealand, led by Mitchell Santner, is entering this T20I series after a 1-1 series draw against Bangladesh in May 2026. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer-led India enters the series after a 2-2 series draw against the West Indies at home earlier this month.
NZ vs IND, T20I Series 2026, Match 1, Match Details
Match: New Zealand vs India, T20I Series 2026, Match 1
Time & Date: 12:30 PM IST, Thursday, October 22
Venue: Hagley Oval, Christchurch
NZ vs IND, T20I Series 2026, Match 1 Pitch Report
The average first-innings score across the last three T20Is was 171. Two out of the last three T20Is saw the teams batting first come out on top. Any score above 230 would be a tough ask for the team batting second.
NZ vs IND, T20I Series 2026, Match 1 Probable XIs
New Zealand
Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Bevon Jacobs, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson.
India
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy.
NZ vs IND, T20I Series 2026, Match 1 Winner Prediction
Match Winner: India
With the surface expected to assist batters comparatively, we can anticipate the Indian batters to come out all guns blazing. That said, India has better depth in their squad, and we can expect them to start the five-match series on a dominant note.
