India Vs New Zealand Highlights, 3rd T20I: Abhishek, Suryakumar Masterclass Seals 8-Wicket Win For Hosts

Good evening, cricket fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the third T20I match of New Zealand’s tour of India. Can the Men in Blue seal the series tonight? Stay tuned for pre-match and toss updates as they take place.

• Fixture: India vs New Zealand, 3rd T20I

• Series: New Zealand's tour of India, 2026

• Venue: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati, Assam

• Date: Sunday, January 25, 2026

• Time: 7:00 PM IST

With rainfall in Northern and Southern India, fans will be wondering if tonight's match can experience late winter rainfall. For now, though, weather predictions show no chance of a washout of tonight's game at Barsapara Stadium. Read our detailed weather forecast.

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel.

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner (c), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, James Neesham, Kyle Jamieson, Michael Bracewell, Kristian Clarke, Tim Robinson, Bevon Jacobs.

ODI:

• Most runs: Daryl Mitchell (NZ) with 352 runs in three matches

• Top scorer: Daryl Mitchell (NZ) 137 runs off 131 balls

• Most wickets: Kristian Clarke (NZ) with seven wickets in three matches

• Best figures: Kyle Jamieson (NZ) 4/41 in 10 overs

T20I:

• Most runs: Suryakumar Yadav (IND) with 114 runs in two matches

• Top scorer: Abhishek Sharma (IND) 84 runs off 35 balls

• Most wickets: Jacob Duffy (NZ), Shivam Dube and Varun Chakaravarthy (IND) with three wickets in two matches

• Best figures: Jacob Duffy (NZ) 2/27 in 4 overs

India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bowl first tonight.

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.

Hardik Pandya, take a bow!! What a catch from the all-rounder to dismiss NZ's opener Conway for just one run. The batter tried to come forward and hit it out of the park, and Hardik comes out of nowhere to grab on to the ball with two hands.

Back in the side after almost, and Bishnoi makes an immediate impact with a stunning catch to dismiss Ravindra. Poor shot selection from the Kiwi batter, who tried to pull Hardik towards the leg-side. Bishnoi judged the height of the ball well and held on to it.

Death, taxes, and Bumrah delivering on the big stage – the three constants of life. The pacer needed just one ball to make a mark, cleaning up Seifert. The ball was always coming in, and the Kiwi batter misjudged the line and was beaten on the outside edge. The off-stump goes flying!

New Zealand desperately needed a big over, and Kuldeep concedes 19 runs in his second to give the Kiwis some wind under the sails. Chapman welcomed the spinner with a six and four, and Phillips then punished a flighted ball by hitting it over the park. Suryakumar turns to Dube.

Bishnoi is having a gala night, and the spinner gets his first wicket to break the New Zealand partnership! It was going away from the left hander, and Champan gets a slight outside edge that it taken well by Samson. Daryl Mitchell comes on as the new batter for the Kiwis.

Phillips continues to get the ocassional boundary while rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard ticking, and New Zealand cross the 100-run mark in the 14th over. The NZ batter is batting at 47 and approaching a deserved half-century. However, can the visitors reachc anything close to a par score from here?

Pandya strikes again, dismissing the dangerous Mitchell for just 14. The in-form batter, under the pressure of run rate, attempts to go big but holes it straight to Kishan at the deep cover ropes. Mitchell Santner comes on as the new batter.

The New Zealand innings is crumbling like a house of cards. Excellent field placing form the skipper, with Phillips picking out Kishan with precision. Bishnoi's dream run continues on his international return, and he's on a hat-trick. Jamieson comes on as the new batter.

With the run rate just over seven-and-half, Jamieson had no choice but attempt a big shot. It was a quicker delivery from Bumrah, and Jamieson swung and miss. The ball beat his inside edge and sent the leg stump flying.

Great work by Kishan on the field. Santner had to attempt a two to retain strike. Henry scurried back as quickly as he could, but Kishan launched a terrific throw towards the non-striker's end. Bumrah caught it cleanly and hit the stumps, with the Kiwi batter well short of his crease. Ish Sodhi is the new batter.

Santner's late vigil ended as he holed it straight to Abhishek at deep midwicket. Other than a horrible bouncer that ran off for a boundary, it was a tight final over from Bumrah, and NZ crawl to 153. It's nowhere near par on this ground. An exciting chase awaits...

Well, well. What a whirlwind start to the Indian chase. Matt Henry cleans up an out-of-sorts Sanju Samson for a first-ball duck to rouse his teammates. But Ishan Kishan comes out all guns blazing, smashing the first two balls he faces way past the leg-side boundary. 16 runs and a wicket off that eventful first over.

The mayhem continues in Guwahati. Ishan Kishan smacks three fours and two sixes before holing out to Mark Chapman at deep midwicket for an entertaining 13-ball 28. At the other end, Abhishek Sharma begins in his trademark blazing style, and has raced to an unbeaten 7-ball 27 already.

Abhishek Sharma is simply unstoppable! The southpaw shows he will without doubt be the batter to watch out for in the T20 World Cup, as he speeds to a 14-ball fifty. It is the second fastest half-century from an Indian after Yuvraj Singh's famous 12-ball effort in 2007. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav also starts to tee off at the other end.

It's all over in Guwahati, and India have sealed a massive eight-wicket win in just 10 overs. Abhishek took a single to allow Suryakumar to reach his half-cenutry, and the skipper wrapped up the chase with back-to-back fours. Utter domination from the Men in Blue, who seal the T20I series 3-0.