India chose to bat vs New Zealand
India won the toss and made the surprising decision to bat first in the series decider in Ahmedabad. Their captain Hardik Pandya cited his experience of playing the IPL 2022 final at this venue, which his Gujarat Titans won while chasing but he felt there had been more assistance for the bowlers in the night.
India's dominant home record was still on the line, not having lost a series at home in any format since March 2019. They forced this series into a decider by winning the second match on a turning pitch in Lucknow, which came in for sharp criticism from the Indian team management.
Pandya said this surface was expected to play better and help fast bowlers more, which meant India left out Yuzvendra Chahal, who bowled two overs for four runs including a wicket-maiden in the previous match, for Umran Malik. They kept showing faith in the opening pair of Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill.
New Zealand, who wanted to bowl first anyway, made one change, handing out an international debut to left-arm swing bowler Ben Lister. Jacob Duffy was the one to miss out.
India 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shivam Mavi, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Umran Malik, 11 Arshdeep Singh
New Zealand 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway (wk), 3 Mark Chapman, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Michael Bracewell, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Ben Lister, 11 Blair Tickner
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