Spiritual serenity met cricketing ambition in Thiruvananthapuram, where captain Suryakumar Yadav and select Indian players visited the magnificent Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple prior to the fifth T20I against New Zealand. The pre-match pilgrimage at Greenfield Stadium aims to fortify their resolve for series glory.
The group, featuring Axar Patel, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Ravi Bishnoi, donned traditional outfits for the darshan, embodying the cultural ethos that defines modern Indian cricket.
This mirrors their Visakhapatnam temple stopover before the fourth match and coach Gautam Gambhir’s personal quests to Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar and Guwahati’s Kamakhya temples amid the ongoing white-ball battles.
Bouncing back from a 1-2 ODI defeat, India has scripted a T20I masterclass: a dominant 48-run victory first up, then seven-wicket and eight-wicket demolitions to seal the series early. New Zealand’s fourth-match 50-run heist adds intrigue, but a 4-1 sweep beckons.
Suryakumar Yadav reigns supreme with 179 runs from four innings at 89.50 average, backed by Abhishek Sharma (152) and Ishan Kishan (112) in the top run-getters.
With the 2026 T20 World Cup on the horizon—Group A pitting them against Pakistan, USA, Namibia, and Netherlands starting February 7 versus USA—this New Zealand series reignites the champions’ fire.