NZ vs IND 2nd T20I: India win by 4 wickets as Tilak Varma's 51* beats Santner's 4 for 21

Result, Saturday 24 October 2026: India beat New Zealand by 4 wickets in the 2nd T20I at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, and lead the series 2-0. Chasing 181, India got home with one ball to spare on 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs, with Tilak Varma 51 not out off 26 balls and Nitish Kumar Reddy 26 not out off 13, according to the BBC Sport scorecard.

New Zealand had recovered from 41 for 3 to 180 for 5, thanks to Glenn Phillips (70 off 43) and Bevon Jacobs (58 off 46), who added 116 for the fourth wicket. Arshdeep Singh took 2 for 33.

India's chase wobbled at 70 for 5 in the 11th over, after New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner took 4 for 21 with his left-arm spin, including Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel. Naman Dhir (31 off 17) and Tilak added 42 quickly, and Tilak and Nitish then finished it with an unbroken stand of 69.

For readers in Pakistan, the match ran from 12pm to about 3:30pm PKT. Pakistan's own next match is against England in the ODI tri-series at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Sunday 25 October at 1:30pm PKT: see our tri-series schedule and results.

Earlier, during the match, about 12:40pm PKT:

New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I scorecard (live): New Zealand were 54 for 3 after 8 overs at Hagley Oval in Christchurch at about 12:40pm PKT on Saturday, after India won the toss and chose to bowl first. The match started at 12:00pm Pakistan time, so a full game should finish around 3:30pm PKT. This is one of the most searched matches in Pakistan today: Google Trends shows more than 20,000 searches for the scorecard in the past 24 hours.

India lead the series 1-0 after a tense win in the first T20I, so a second win today would put them two up.

The wickets so far

India's seamers did the early damage, according to the BBC Sport scorecard:

• Tim Seifert, 7 (6 balls): caught by Tilak Varma off Arshdeep Singh. New Zealand were 9 for 1 in the second over.
• Daryl Mitchell, 6 (5): caught by Tilak off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 18 for 2 in the third over.
• Finn Allen, 16 (14): bowled by Prince Yadav with the score on 41 in the sixth over.

Glenn Phillips (14 not out) and Bevon Jacobs (8 not out) were rebuilding when this was written. Bhuvneshwar had gone for 32 in his three overs, while Arshdeep (1 for 8 in two) and Prince Yadav (1 for 3 in one) were far tighter.

Line-ups

New Zealand: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson.

India are led by Shreyas Iyer, with Sanju Samson keeping wicket and Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir and Axar Patel in the side. Ishan Kishan was ruled out injured before the game, ESPNcricinfo reported.

Why it matters to fans in Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo's preview expected "another slugfest" after a high-scoring first game, so New Zealand's top three falling for 41 is the first sign that seamers who pitch it up can still find movement at Hagley Oval. Pakistan's own T20 batters face New Zealand's attack regularly, and Henry, Duffy and Ferguson are all in this XI.

We will update this page with the result. For the rest of the season, see our coverage of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2028 in Pakistan and the New Zealand ODI squad for the India series.