T20 World Cup 2026: Is Axar Patel playing in India vs New Zealand? - Final

India are set to take on New Zealand in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final on March 8 at the Narendra Modi Stadium. India secured their place in the summit clash after defeating England in the semifinal, while New Zealand advanced to the final by beating South Africa in the other semifinal.

Toss Update

Mitchell Santner, captain of New Zealand, won the toss and elected to bowl first. He admitted that the pitch looked good for batting and said the team would aim to restrict India to a chaseable total. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav, captain of India, said it is always beneficial to have runs on the board in knockout matches and added that the team is fully prepared for the final.

Is Axar Patel playing in India vs New Zealand, Final?

India fielded an unchanged playing XI, carrying forward the winning momentum that helped them secure victories against West Indies and England earlier in the tournament. Meanwhile, New Zealand made one change to their lineup, bringing in Jacob Duffy as an extra pacer in place of Cole McConchie.

What did the captains say?

Suryakumar Yadav, India captain

Happy to bat first since we have been doing that pretty well. Always good to have runs on the board in the semifinal or a final. It's history now, new World Cup and we are excited for it. It looks fully already and it's only toss time and hopefully we will give them a good show. Same team for us.

Mitchell Santer, New Zealand captain

We are going to bowl first. Looks pretty good. We will see if it does anything and try and restrict them to a chasable score. Boys are good. This is why we are playing. It did. Great occasion, the semifinal and the guys will take confidence from that. This is biggest stage and everyone is ready. No McConchie, Duffy is playing.

IND vs NZ: Playing XIs

India

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand

Tim Seifert (w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy