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IND vs NZ 2026, 5th T20I: Kishan's maiden ton, Arshdeep's five-for demolish Kiwis to give India 4-1 series win

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Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan (Source: X/@BCCI)

Vijeet Rathi

Vijeet Rathi

Published - 31 Jan 2026, 08:55 PM Read time - 4 mins

India and New Zealand locked horns for one last time in the series at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, January 31. India won the toss and elected to bat first.

The team brought back Ishan Kishan, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakravarthy in place of Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, and Harshit Rana. On the other hand, New Zealand made a host of changes too. Kyle Jamieson, Finn Allen, Lockie Feguson and Bevon Jacobs were added to replace Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Zak Foulkes and Matt Henry.

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India began the innings with fireworks, courtesy of the flamboyant left-hander Abhishek Sharma who scored 24 runs in the first two overs. Home boy Sanju Samson, however, failed to live up to his fans' expectations once again as the right-hander was out for a run-a-ball six.

Kishan came in at number three and looked positive, hitting a couple of boundaries and a maximum. Abhishek, who went quiet at the other end, wanted to up his scoring rate but succumbed to Ferguson for 30(16). Despite the two wickets, India looked good to continue with the momentum.

After ending the powerplay at 54/2, there was no looking back. New man Suryakumar Yadav and Kishan came together and punished the Kiwi bowlers. The conditions were highly favourable for the batters and the duo made full use of it. India crossed the 100-run mark in the 10th over as a 200+ total looked imminent.

Kishan was on a different plane this evening as the left-hander was not in the mood to relent at any stage. The 27-year-old smashed Ish Sodhi for 29 runs in the 12th over, in the process achieving his half century off 28 balls. At the other end, Suryakumar picked up his pace. Incidentally, the India captain crossed the 3000-run mark in T20Is in the 13th over, becoming the fastest to do so in terms of balls faced (1822). 

The right-hander crossed the 50-run mark as well soon after, his 24th half century overall and the third one of the series. But, the 35-year-old (63 off 30) did not last long afterwards as Kiwi skipper Mitchell Santner ended the huge 137-run partnership.

Hardik Pandya joined Kishan and the onslaught continued. Remarkably, the latter reached his maiden T20I ton off just 42 balls in the 17th over. Notably, it is the fifth-fastest century for India in the shortest format. The left-hander also became the 13th Indian to reach the three-figure mark as the home team was well on course for a 250+ score.

But, Kishan could not add any more runs subsequently as the Jharkhand keeper-batter was caught out for a scintillating 103 runs off 43 balls, an innings which comprised 10 sixes and six fours. Pandya (42 off 17), with support from Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube, helped India finish at a massive 271/5. It is India's third-highest team total in T20Is and fifth-highest overall in matches involving Full Member nations.

New Zealand began their response to the daunting target with positive intent. Openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen took on Arshdeep Singh in the first over, but the left-armer came back to dismiss the keeper-batter for 5(3). Rachin Ravindra joined Allen and the Indians soon got a scare.

Allen, who was coming off a fantastic BBL season for the Perth Scorchers, continued to punish Arshdeep as the right-hander smashed him for four fours and a six in the third over. Ravindra, at the other end, was struggling initially but soon got in the groove. Allen reached his fifty in just 22 balls as New Zealand ended the powerplay at 79/1.

The duo, led by Allen, continued with their plans and kept scoring at a healthy pace. In fact, the partnership was worth 100 runs as well but Axar ended it soon after by scalping the danger man Allen for 80(38).

The innings started to go downhill from here for the Kiwis as the batters to come could not register significant scores. Most of them perished in single digits, apart from Daryl Mitchell (26 off 12) and Ish Sodhi (33 off 15) who provided the late fireworks to minimise the margin of defeat substantially.

India won by 46 runs and sealed the series 4-1. Arshdeep Singh, who went for 40 runs in his first two overs, made a dramatic comeback to end with figures of 5/51. Axar was the next-best bowler, dismissing three crucial Kiwis. Unsurprisingly, Ishan Kishan was declared the Player of the Match while Suryakumar was adjudged as the Player of the Series for his 242 runs.

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