On January 23, 2026, India and New Zealand faced off in the second Twenty20 International of the five-match series. This match is being played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, and India leads the series 1-0.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bowl first. India had to make two changes: Kuldeep Yadav replaced injured Axar Patel, and Harshit Rana replaced Jasprit Bumrah. Tim Seifert, Matt Henry, and Zak Foulkes replaced Tim Robinson, Kyle Jamieson, and Kristin Clarke, respectively.

Devon Conway started well, hitting 18 runs off Arshdeep Singh in the first over of the Kiwi innings, including 3 fours and 1 six. Tim Seifert also did well, hammering 24 runs in 13 balls with five fours.

But the knock that gave the Kiwis momentum came from Rachin Ravindra, who made 44 in 26 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes. Then they lost a few wickets in the middle overs, but Mitchell Santner’s 47* in 27 balls powered New Zealand to 208/6 in 20 overs.

In response, India lost Abhishek Sharma for a golden duck and Sanju Samson for 6 runs. But then Ishan Kishan played a blazing knock, scoring a fifty in 21 balls, and finishing on 76 in 32 balls, hammering 11 fours and 4 sixes, and also added 122 runs for the third wicket with Suryakumar Yadav.

Surya had struggled to get 10 runs off 10 balls, but then exploded as he slammed Zak Foulkes for 25 runs in an over and got momentum in his knock. Though Kishan got out very soon, Suryakumar continued to hammer the opposition as he scored 82* in 37 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. This was Suryakumar’s first fifty after more than 400 days.

Shivam Dube added the finishing touches with 36* in 18 balls and an 81*-run partnership as India achieved the target in 15.2 overs and won the game by 7 wickets. With this win, India went 2-0 up in the five-T20I series.

The cricket fraternity was stunned by the audacity of the shots played by Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav and shared their praises for them on social media.

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