India Beat New Zealand by Four Wickets in Second T20I as Tilak Varma Hits 51 Not Out

India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the second T20 International at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday, October 24, 2026. India reached 181 for six in 19.5 overs, with one ball to spare, to chase down a target of 181 and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Tilak Varma finished unbeaten on 51 and was named Player of the Match. His stand with Nitish Kumar Reddy rescued India from 112 for six and settled a chase that New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner had pulled back with four wickets.

Phillips and Jacobs set the target

New Zealand, asked to bat first, posted 180 for five in their 20 overs. Glenn Phillips top-scored with 70 off 43 balls, and Bevon Jacobs made 58 off 46 balls. The pair gave the home side a total that looked competitive on a ground where India had chased 226 two days earlier.

Arshdeep Singh was the most successful India bowler, taking two wickets for 33 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy took one wicket each as India kept New Zealand to five wickets down across the full innings.

Santner pulls the chase back

India started fast. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma put on 40 runs in 4.4 overs before Santner changed the course of the chase. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, batting at number three, made 4 off 8 balls, and wickets fell in a cluster through the middle overs.

Santner finished with four wickets for 21 runs. By the 15th over India had slipped to 112 for six and still needed 69 runs. Naman Dhir had made 31 off 17 balls and added 42 with Tilak before he was out at 112 for six, leaving the chase in the hands of the seventh-wicket pair.

A record stand finishes the job

Tilak and Reddy then took the game away from New Zealand. Their unbroken seventh-wicket stand was worth 69 runs in 30 balls, an India record for the seventh wicket in T20 Internationals. It passed the previous mark of 63 set by Dinesh Karthik and Krunal Pandya.

Tilak reached 51 not out off 26 balls, with six fours and one six. Reddy finished unbeaten on 26 off 13 balls and hit the winning runs, closing the match with one ball remaining. The result follows India's four-wicket win in the first T20 International at the same ground on October 22, when they chased 226, and it leaves New Zealand needing to win the remaining matches to take the series.