In one final herculean push, Team India will hope to seize a historic series in New Zealand against the primed hosts. After what unfurled in Tauranga in the fourth ODI, nerves will play a critical part and it will be interesting to see how the Men in Blue respond.

India will be without Gurnoor Brar, who claimed nine wickets in the first four ODIs as he has joined India’s Test squad. This might give Mohammed Siraj a chance to showcase his flair ahead of the red-ball battles, as the BCCI announced no replacement for Brar.

However, India’s major concern will be their batting. The batting order has seen fairly challenging days in the ongoing ODI series and after being bowled out for 89, they will have an added urge to turn the tide. New Zealand, on the contrary, will be quite confident coming into this battle, given their massive win in the fourth ODI.

New Zealand will undoubtedly push hard for the win to level the series as India leads 2-1. This is where it gets interesting as that will only mean that the hosts will be desperate too. And that might open up a window where both sides would tryst with risks while also trying to figure out the right time to go all in.

Venue Watch:

The fourth ODI gave a clear indication that batting first is the way to go forward in Bay Oval. The ball comes nicely onto the bat and the carry looks good as well. However, in the second half, the surface tends to soften up and there are traces of spongy bounce which saw India crumbling like a house of cards in the fourth ODI.

Match details:

Match: New Zealand vs India, 5th ODI

Venue: Bay Oval, Tauranga

Date: Wednesday, 15th November 2026

Time: 7:30 AM IST (3:00 PM local)

Head-to-head:

Matches played – 127

India – 65

New Zealand – 53

Tied – 1

No result - 8

Squads:

India:

Shreyas Iyer (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav.

New Zealand:

Mitchell Santner (C), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Kristian Clarke, Jacob Duffy, Matt Fisher, Dean Foxcroft, Mitch Hay (WK), Nick Kelly, Brett Randell, Tim Seifert (WK), Will Young, Josh Clarkson