India won the toss and chose to bowl first in the second T20I against New Zealand at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. Leading the series 1-0 after their victory in the first match in Nagpur, India made two changes to their XI, bringing in Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav for Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel. New Zealand also made three alterations, including Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, and Tim Seifert in their lineup.
India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav, expressed the team’s strategy, stating their preference to bowl first due to the existing dew on the ground. He highlighted the team’s focus on continuous improvement in all aspects of the game and announced the changes in the playing XI. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s captain, Mitchell Santner, acknowledged the learnings from the previous match and emphasized the need for clearer plans in bowling to counter India’s strong batting performance.
The playing XIs for the match are as follows: New Zealand – Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Zak Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy; India – Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav.
