New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I 2026 – Commentary, Scorecard and Result
India beat New Zealand by four wickets with one ball to spare at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday, 24 October 2026, to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. It was a result that looked impossible for most of the chase. Set 181, India slumped to 71 for 5 inside ten overs against a Mitchell Santner spell that finished with 4 for 21, and then won anyway.
Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 from 26 balls was the innings that turned it, and his 68-run stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who finished 26 not out from 13, was the partnership that completed it. Tilak was named Player of the Match. For New Zealand, Glenn Phillips made 70 and Bevon Jacobs 58, and it still was not enough. This New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I 2026 report carries the full scorecard below.
New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I 2026 – Match Details
| Match | New Zealand v India, 2nd T20I |
|---|---|
| Series | India tour of New Zealand, 2026-27 (five T20Is) |
| Venue | Hagley Oval, Christchurch |
| Date | Saturday, 24 October 2026 |
| Local start | 8:00 PM NZDT (12:30 PM IST) |
| Format | Twenty20 International |
| Toss | India won the toss and elected to field |
| New Zealand | 180/5 in 20 overs |
| India | 181/6 in 19.5 overs |
| Result | India won by 4 wickets (1 ball remaining) |
| Player of the Match | Tilak Varma — 51 not out from 26 balls |
| Series after this match | India lead 2-0 |
NZ vs IND 2nd T20I – Match Status
The match was played and completed as scheduled. There was no interruption, no reduction in overs and no reserve-day situation. India won by four wickets off the penultimate ball of the twentieth over.
This page is a match report rather than a live-score feed. For ball-by-ball detail, the official scorecard on ESPNcricinfo and the New Zealand Cricket match centre carry the complete record.
New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I – Toss and Playing XIs
India won the toss for the second match running and again chose to field.
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson.
India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav.
Changes from the first T20I
India made two changes. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came in for Ishan Kishan, and Prince Yadav replaced Mayank Yadav in the seam attack. New Zealand made one, with Jacob Duffy coming in for Adam Milne.
First Innings – New Zealand 180/5
New Zealand’s innings fell into two completely different halves, and the join between them is the story of the match.
The powerplay belonged to India. Arshdeep Singh had Tim Seifert caught by Tilak Varma for 7 in the second over, with New Zealand on 11. Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Daryl Mitchell for 6 in the third, caught by Tilak again, and the score was 18 for 2. Prince Yadav then bowled Finn Allen for 16 in the sixth, leaving New Zealand 41 for 3 at the end of the powerplay — a position from which 180 should not have been available.
What followed was the innings’ only substantial partnership, and it was worth 116 runs for the fourth wicket. Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs batted together from the seventh over until the eighteenth, and between them they took New Zealand from 41 for 3 to 157 for 4.
Phillips made 70 from 43 balls with four sixes, the innings of the match on either side in terms of tempo, before Arshdeep Singh had him caught by Naman Dhir in the eighteenth over. Jacobs’ 58 came from 46 balls, the more measured half of the stand, and he was caught by Axar Patel off Nitish Kumar Reddy in the nineteenth with the score 171 for 5.
Michael Bracewell struck a six off the first ball he faced and was unbeaten at the close as New Zealand finished on 180 for 5, adding nine runs from the final over.
Second Innings – India 181/6
India’s reply began steadily and then came apart. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma put on 41 for the first wicket before Jacob Duffy had Samson caught by Glenn Phillips.
From there India lost four wickets for 30 runs. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was caught by Daryl Mitchell off Nathan Smith for 4 from eight balls at 44. Abhishek Sharma fell for 27 at 56, caught by Smith off Mitchell Santner. Santner then bowled captain Shreyas Iyer at 69 and had Axar Patel caught by Mitchell at 71.
India were 71 for 5, needing 110 from 63 balls. Santner had taken three of those five wickets and was mid-spell.
Naman Dhir’s 31 from 17 balls was the innings that stopped the collapse becoming a defeat. He counter-attacked alongside Tilak Varma and took India to 113 before Santner claimed him too — caught by Phillips in the fifteenth over, completing figures of 4 for 21 from four overs.
That left 68 required from 31 balls with four wickets in hand and the recognised batting gone. Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy then put on 68 unbroken for the seventh wicket, and India got home with a ball to spare.
Tilak finished on 51 not out from 26 balls and Nitish on 26 not out from 13. Between them, two batters at numbers five and six scored 77 runs from 39 deliveries to chase down a target that had looked beyond India for half the innings.
New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I – Full Scorecard
New Zealand innings — 180/5 (20 overs)
| Batter | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Seifert (wk) | c Tilak Varma b Arshdeep Singh | 7 | 6 | 116.67 |
| Finn Allen | b Prince Yadav | 16 | 14 | 114.29 |
| Daryl Mitchell | c Tilak Varma b Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 6 | 5 | 120.00 |
| Glenn Phillips | c Naman Dhir b Arshdeep Singh | 70 | 43 | 162.79 |
| Bevon Jacobs | c Axar Patel b Nitish Kumar Reddy | 58 | 46 | 126.09 |
| Michael Bracewell | not out | — | — | — |
Did not bat: Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson. Bracewell’s score and the extras had not been published at the time of writing. Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Seifert), 2-18 (Mitchell), 3-41 (Allen), 4-157 (Phillips), 5-171 (Jacobs).
India bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arshdeep Singh | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 8.25 |
| Prince Yadav | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 | 7.50 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 4 | 0 | 50 | 1 | 12.50 |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | 3 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 10.30 |
| Axar Patel | 4 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 7.00 |
Axar Patel had figures of 0 for 17 from three overs at one stage; final analyses for Axar and Nitish Kumar Reddy were not published at the time of writing.
India innings — 181/6 (19.5 overs)
| Batter | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanju Samson (wk) | c Glenn Phillips b Jacob Duffy | 14* | 17* | 82.35 |
| Abhishek Sharma | c Nathan Smith b Mitchell Santner | 27 | 21 | 128.57 |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | c Daryl Mitchell b Nathan Smith | 4 | 8 | 50.00 |
| Shreyas Iyer (c) | b Mitchell Santner | 7* | 11* | 63.64 |
| Tilak Varma | not out | 51 | 26 | 196.15 |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | not out | 26 | 13 | 200.00 |
| Naman Dhir | c Glenn Phillips b Mitchell Santner | 31 | 17 | 182.35 |
| Axar Patel | c Daryl Mitchell b Mitchell Santner | 11 | 9 | 122.22 |
Did not bat: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav. Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Samson), 2-44 (Sooryavanshi), 3-56 (Abhishek), 4-69 (Iyer), 5-71 (Axar), 6-113 (Dhir).
* Two outlets transpose the runs and balls for Samson (14 off 17 or 17 off 14) and Iyer (7 off 11 or 11 off 7). The figures above follow the source that also carried the complete fall-of-wickets list. Verify against the official scorecard. India’s extras are not shown because the total depends on which set is correct.
New Zealand bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mitchell Santner (c) | 4 | 0 | 21 | 4 | 5.25 |
| Michael Bracewell | 4 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 8.75 |
| Jacob Duffy | 3.5 | 0 | 41 | 1 | 10.70 |
| Nathan Smith | 3 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 11.30 |
| Matt Henry | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5.50 |
| Lockie Ferguson | 3 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 12.30 |
Matt Henry bowled a maiden in his opening over. Final analyses for Henry, Ferguson and Smith were not published at the time of writing.
Key Performances and Turning Points
Mitchell Santner’s 4 for 21 is the standout bowling performance of the match and arguably of the series so far. Four overs, four wickets, an economy rate of 5.25 in a game where 361 runs were scored — and his side still lost. He removed Abhishek Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Naman Dhir, which is to say the top of the order, the captain and the man trying to repair the innings.
Tilak Varma’s 51 not out from 26 balls won the Player of the Match award and the game. He arrived with India in trouble, was still there at 71 for 5, and finished at a strike rate of 196 without ever being the senior partner in a settled position.
The Phillips–Jacobs stand of 116 was the single biggest passage of play. New Zealand at 41 for 3 were heading for a total around 130; the partnership added 50 to what looked like a realistic score.
Naman Dhir’s 31 from 17 deserves more attention than it will get. India needed 110 from 63 when he and Tilak came together, and his counter-attack is what made the final stand a 68-run task rather than a 110-run one.
One figure that stands out on India’s side for the wrong reason: Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 1 for 50 from four overs, an economy of 12.50, in his second match back after nearly four years away. He took a wicket in the third over and was expensive thereafter.
What the Result Means for the Series
India lead the five-match T20I series 2-0. Both wins have come by four wickets and both have gone to the final over — the first by two balls, this one by one.
New Zealand have now lost twice at Hagley Oval, and the pattern is uncomfortable: they have twice posted a total their bowling could not defend, and twice had India’s lower-middle order take the game away in the closing overs. Santner’s 4 for 21 was as good a spell as any captain could ask for, and his side still lost by four wickets.
The series moves north. The third T20I is at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday, 27 October, starting at 8:00 PM local time, which is 12:30 PM IST. New Zealand must win it to keep the series alive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I in 2026?
India won by four wickets with one ball to spare, chasing 181 at Hagley Oval on 24 October 2026. The win put India 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Where was the NZ vs IND 2nd T20I played?
At Hagley Oval in Christchurch, New Zealand, the same venue as the first T20I. The match started at 8:00 PM local time, which is 12:30 PM IST.
What was the final score of the second T20I?
New Zealand made 180 for 5 in their 20 overs. India replied with 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs to win by four wickets.
Who scored the most runs in the match?
Glenn Phillips of New Zealand, with 70 from 43 balls including four sixes. Bevon Jacobs made 58 and Tilak Varma was India’s top scorer with 51 not out from 26 balls.
Who took the most wickets?
Mitchell Santner, with 4 for 21 from his four overs — the best figures of the match on either side. Arshdeep Singh took 2 for 33 for India.
Who won Player of the Match?
Tilak Varma, for his unbeaten 51 from 26 balls. He came in with India in trouble and shared an unbroken 68-run stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy to finish the chase.
What is the series score after the second T20I?
India lead 2-0 in the five-match series. Both of their wins have been by four wickets and both were decided in the final over.
Where can readers find the official scorecard?
The complete ball-by-ball scorecard and bowling analyses are published on ESPNcricinfo and by New Zealand Cricket. A small number of figures in the tables above are marked pending and will be updated from the official record.
Conclusion
New Zealand recovered from 41 for 3 to post 180, produced the best bowling spell of the series in Mitchell Santner’s 4 for 21, reduced India to 71 for 5 — and lost. That sequence explains both the scoreline and the frustration behind it.
India’s win came from the part of the order that is hardest to plan for: Naman Dhir’s 31 from 17 to stop the slide, then Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy with 68 unbroken from the seventh wicket. Two matches, two four-wicket wins, two last-over finishes, and a 2-0 lead.
Wellington on Tuesday is now a must-win for New Zealand. Follow our cricket section for the third T20I preview, full scorecards and series coverage.
