NZ vs IND 2nd T20I Result: India Win Last-Over Thriller at Christchurch, Lead Series 2-0
New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I - India won by 4 wickets with 1 ball to spare at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Saturday, October 24, 2026, and took a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series. India chased down New Zealand's 180 for 5 with 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs, after being in deep trouble at 70 for 5. Tilak Varma finished unbeaten on 51 off 26 balls and was named player of the match.
If you only want the result, the table below has it. If you want to know how India won a game they looked like losing, read on - the last five overs changed everything.
Quick answer table
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Match | New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I, India tour of New Zealand 2026-27 |
| Date and time | Oct 24, 2026, 12:30 PM IST (8:00 PM NZDT) |
| Venue | Hagley Oval, Christchurch |
| Toss | India won the toss and chose to field first (captain Shreyas Iyer) |
| Result | India won by 4 wickets, with 1 ball remaining |
| New Zealand | 180 for 5 in 20 overs |
| India | 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs |
| Player of the match | Tilak Varma - 51 not out off 26 balls, plus 2 catches |
| Series | India lead the five-match series 2-0 |
| Next match | 3rd T20I, Tuesday, Oct 27, 2026, 12:30 PM IST, Wellington |
| Watch in India | Sony Sports Network on TV, SonyLIV for streaming |
Scorecard in short
New Zealand 180 for 5: Glenn Phillips top-scored with 70 off 43 balls, with 4 fours and 4 sixes. Bevon Jacobs made 58 off 46. Arshdeep Singh was India's best bowler with 2 for 33. New Zealand lost early wickets - 9 for 1, 18 for 2, 41 for 3 - before Phillips and Jacobs rebuilt, and the side finished at 180.
India 181 for 6: Tilak Varma finished 51 not out off 26 balls, with 6 fours and 1 six. Naman Dhir made 31 off 17 and Nitish Kumar Reddy finished 26 not out off 13. Mitchell Santner took 4 for 21 for New Zealand, and for most of the chase it looked like his spell would win the game.
How India won a game they were losing
India's chase fell apart in the middle. From 40 for 1, they slipped to 70 for 5 in the 11th over, and then 112 for 6 in the 15th. With 30 balls left, India still needed 68 runs. That is when the game turned.
Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy put on an unbeaten 69 runs for the seventh wicket off just 30 balls. As per ESPNcricinfo's report, it is India's highest seventh-wicket stand in T20Is, passing the 63 by Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya. New Zealand's fielding did not help their own cause either - the report notes four India batters were reprieved by poor fielding, and the last of those lives, to Dhir with 97 needed off 48 balls, was where the chase started to turn.
India got home with one ball left. A game that looked gone at 70 for 5 ended as a 2-0 series lead.
Confirmed playing XIs
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.
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson.
One note on Matt Henry: ESPNcricinfo's report says New Zealand were missing him in effect because he bowled only two overs. He was in the XI, but no source we checked says why he bowled only two overs, so we are not calling it an injury.
What this means for the series
India now lead 2-0 in a five-match series, having also won the 1st T20I on Oct 22 by 4 wickets. New Zealand must win the 3rd T20I in Wellington on Tuesday, Oct 27, at 12:30 PM IST to stay alive in the series. After that, the tour moves to Auckland on Oct 30 and Hamilton on Nov 1, as per the schedule guides.
For context, Rachin Ravindra is out of the T20I series with a dislocated right shoulder and is targeting a return for the ODIs, as per the squad reports.
Our verdict
This was a win built on calm heads, not a big total. At 70 for 5, most chases die. Tilak Varma's unbeaten 51 and Nitish Kumar Reddy's finish, plus New Zealand's lapses in the field, turned it. For the 3rd T20I, the question for New Zealand is simple: can they hold their catches and close out a game they had in their hands? For India, the top order needs to give Tilak less rescuing to do.
Related articles
- NZ vs IND 2nd T20I Playing 11, Dream11, Pitch Report (pre-match preview)
- India Tour of New Zealand 2026: Full Schedule, Squads, Live Streaming in India
- CricketPlaying11 Home - Latest Playing 11 and Dream11 Guides
Sources
ESPNcricinfo match report ("Tilak, Reddy, Dhir seal thriller for India to go 2-0 up"), CricFacts result article, CricketWorld match summary (full scorecard and fall of wickets), CricTracker highlights and review, TheNewsBit result report, and IndianSwan match centre for toss, times and confirmed XIs. Series and next-match dates cross-checked against Jagran Josh and Rajasthan Royals schedule pages. Where sources disagreed on the Wellington stadium name, we named only the city.