India’s tour of New Zealand in 2026 is a 12-match, all-format tour: five T20 internationals, five one-day internationals and two Test matches, running from 22 October to 1 December 2026. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) announced the schedule on 3 June 2026, and described it as the largest inbound tour in its history by number of matches.
This article is a schedule explainer, updated with results only where they have been verified. Verification note (28 October 2026): the results of the first three T20Is stated below were verified on ESPNcricinfo at drafting time — its match reports and live scorecards for 22, 24 and 27 October 2026. No other scorecard source was used for results, and no result is stated for any match not yet played. The remaining two T20Is, all five ODIs and both Tests were still to be played when this article was written, and are listed below as fixtures only. Squads and captaincy are stated only where verified in the reporting checked; where reporting conflicted, that is flagged rather than resolved by guesswork.
India tour New Zealand 2026: the full schedule
The tour is played in three legs, in order: T20Is first, then ODIs, then Tests. The T20I leg is compact — five matches in 11 days — while the Tests close the tour in Wellington and Christchurch. All dates below are from the NZC schedule as announced in June 2026 and reproduced in full by SportNation; multiple cricket outlets reproduce the same fixture list, and no conflicting date or venue was found in the reporting checked.
| Match | Date (2026) | Venue | Start time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st T20I | Thu 22 Oct | Hagley Oval, Christchurch | 8:00pm NZDT / 12:30pm IST |
| 2nd T20I | Sat 24 Oct | Hagley Oval, Christchurch | 8:00pm NZDT / 12:30pm IST |
| 3rd T20I | Tue 27 Oct | Hnry Stadium, Wellington | 8:00pm NZDT / 12:30pm IST |
| 4th T20I | Fri 30 Oct | Eden Park, Auckland | 8:00pm NZDT / 12:30pm IST |
| 5th T20I | Sun 1 Nov | Seddon Park, Hamilton | 8:00pm NZDT / 12:30pm IST |
| 1st ODI | Wed 4 Nov | Eden Park, Auckland | 3:00pm NZDT / 7:30am IST |
| 2nd ODI | Sat 7 Nov | Hnry Stadium, Wellington | 3:00pm NZDT / 7:30am IST |
| 3rd ODI | Tue 10 Nov | Seddon Park, Hamilton | 3:00pm NZDT / 7:30am IST |
| 4th ODI | Fri 13 Nov | Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui | 3:00pm NZDT / 7:30am IST |
| 5th ODI | Sun 15 Nov | Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui | 3:00pm NZDT / 7:30am IST |
| 1st Test | Thu 19 – Mon 23 Nov | Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington | 11:00am NZDT |
| 2nd Test | Fri 27 Nov – Tue 1 Dec | Hagley Oval, Christchurch | 11:00am NZDT |
Start times are as listed in NZC schedule reproductions: 8:00pm local time for the T20Is, 3:00pm for the ODIs and 11:00am for the Tests. India is 7 hours 30 minutes behind New Zealand during the tour dates, which is how the IST times above are derived. Times can change for weather or broadcast reasons; the match-day listing on the day is the final word. Venue names use the names in the NZC schedule: “Hnry Stadium” in Wellington (also known as Sky Stadium / Wellington Regional Stadium) and “Cello Basin Reserve” (the Basin Reserve, under sponsorship naming).
T20I series: India lead 3–0, series sealed in Wellington (verified)
The T20I series is decided. India won the first three matches, all verified on ESPNcricinfo, and took an unassailable 3–0 lead with two matches still to play. The last two T20Is, in Auckland and Hamilton, cannot change the series winner, though they still count as T20 internationals.
1st T20I, Christchurch, 22 October 2026 — India won by 4 wickets. New Zealand made 225 for 4 in 20 overs, with Glenn Phillips unbeaten on 82 from 40 balls and Finn Allen making 45 from 24. India chased the target of 226, finishing on 230 for 6 in 19.4 overs, with Sanju Samson making 67 from 33 balls, Naman Dhir unbeaten on 42 from 15, and captain Shreyas Iyer making 42. India won with two balls remaining. ESPNcricinfo’s report describes it as India’s highest successful chase in men’s T20Is. India won the toss and chose to bowl.
2nd T20I, Christchurch, 24 October 2026 — India won by 4 wickets. New Zealand made 180 for 5, with Phillips making 70 from 43 balls and Bevon Jacobs 58 from 46. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner then took 4 wickets for 21 runs, and India slipped to 112 for 6. Tilak Varma, unbeaten on 51 from 26 balls, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, unbeaten on 26 from 13, added an unbeaten 69-run partnership to take India to 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs — victory with one ball remaining. ESPNcricinfo’s report notes India recovered from 70 for 5. India again won the toss and chose to bowl.
3rd T20I, Wellington, 27 October 2026 — India won by 6 wickets, series sealed. New Zealand made 198 for 3, with Daryl Mitchell unbeaten on 89 from 52 balls and Finn Allen making 40. India chased 199 in just 13.2 overs, finishing on 199 for 4. Abhishek Sharma made 113 from 38 balls, reaching his hundred in 35 balls, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 45 from 19. The pair put on 133 in 7.1 overs, and ESPNcricinfo’s report records a T20I-record 118 for no loss in the powerplay. India won with 40 balls remaining, and the win gave India a 3–0 lead with two matches left.
Three points from the verified scorecards are worth noting. First, all three matches were won by the chasing side. Second, Phillips was New Zealand’s standout batter in the first two matches, with 82 not out and 70. Third, India’s depth decided the tightest game: in the second T20I, the seventh-wicket pair won the match from a position where India had lost six wickets with 69 runs still needed. No further interpretation is offered here: the scorecards speak for themselves, and later matches may tell a different story.
ODI series: five matches, 4–15 November (preview only)
The ODI leg has not started. Five 50-over matches are scheduled from 4 to 15 November, beginning at Eden Park in Auckland and ending with two matches at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, via Wellington and Hamilton. No result, score or team news for these matches is stated here, because none had happened at drafting time.
Two things about the ODI leg could not be verified cleanly, and are therefore flagged. First, the number of ODIs was increased from three to five when NZC announced the schedule in June 2026, according to announcement coverage — that expansion is reported, not assumed. Second, ODI captaincy and squads: one cricket outlet reported Shubman Gill captaining India for the first three ODIs with Shreyas Iyer taking over for the last two, while another report said the BCCI had yet to announce the ODI and Test squads. Because those accounts conflict and neither was confirmed against an NZC or BCCI announcement in the checks for this article, no ODI captain or squad list is stated. Readers should check the BCCI and NZC announcements before the first ODI on 4 November.
What is verified is the T20I leadership: Shreyas Iyer captained India in the T20Is, with Tilak Varma as vice-captain, and Mitchell Santner captained New Zealand. Those names come from the verified match scorecards and squad reporting, not from prediction. No full squad list is published in this article: squads change through injury — New Zealand, for example, made changes to its T20I squad before the series, with Josh Clarkson and Blair Tickner replacing the injured Mark Chapman and Zak Foulkes, according to squad reporting — and a list copied here would go out of date quickly.
Test series: two Tests, 19 November – 1 December (preview only)
The tour closes with two five-day Tests: the first at the Cello Basin Reserve in Wellington from 19 to 23 November, and the second at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from 27 November to 1 December. No result is possible yet, and none is suggested.
The Tests are reported to form part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025–27 cycle, with points on offer that matter for both sides’ chances of reaching the final. That context is reported in announcement coverage and is stated here as reported, not as an official ICC statement verified for this article; readers who need the official position should check the ICC’s championship standings.
The Tests also mark a return: announcement coverage described this as India’s first Test assignment in New Zealand since the 2019–20 season, and its first white-ball tour of New Zealand since 2022. Those “first since” claims are attributed to the announcement coverage. The longer gap for Tests is part of why NZC presented the tour as its biggest inbound tour: 12 matches across five centres in 41 days of the wider home summer, in NZC’s framing as reported at the announcement.
Venues: five centres, from Christchurch to Mount Maunganui
Five centres host the tour. Christchurch opens it with back-to-back T20Is at Hagley Oval and closes it with the second Test at the same ground. Wellington hosts the third T20I, the second ODI and the first Test — the T20I and ODI at Hnry Stadium, the Test at the Basin Reserve. Auckland (Eden Park) hosts the fourth T20I and first ODI; Hamilton (Seddon Park) hosts the fifth T20I and third ODI; and Mount Maunganui (Bay Oval) hosts the last two ODIs. That spread — two South Island fixtures in Christchurch plus the tour’s North Island centres — is the full venue list from the NZC schedule; no other city hosts a match on this tour.
NZC’s chief marketing and commercial officer, Glenn Critchley, said at the announcement: “When it comes to cricket — it simply doesn’t get bigger than India and we’re determined to deliver New Zealanders a tour like no other.” The quote is from NZC’s announcement coverage. He also said NZC would bring “42 days of international cricket to Kiwi cricket fans across eight cities” over the wider home summer — a figure that covers the whole summer programme, not this tour alone, and it is quoted here with that scope intact.
What to watch, and what not to assume
With the T20I series decided, the remaining interest in the short format is whether New Zealand can avoid a 5–0 sweep and whether India extends a run of dominant chasing performances. The ODI series is a fresh contest: a five-match series is long enough for form, conditions and squad depth to matter, and it is reported as preparation for both sides ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2027. That World Cup context is reported in tour coverage; it is not a claim about either board’s selection policy, which this article does not state.
Conditions will differ by venue and format in ways that matter. The Wellington T20I was played on a ground with long straight boundaries and short square boundaries, which ESPNcricinfo’s report said India’s bowlers used well; the Christchurch matches were evening games under lights, with dew a factor in the first match and less so in the second, according to the same reports. Day-night and day matches, and the move from 20-over to 50-over to five-day cricket, change what “a good score” means. No pitch report or weather forecast is stated here, because neither survives contact with the day itself; check the match-day preview for each game.
Frequently asked questions
When is the India tour of New Zealand 2026?
From 22 October to 1 December 2026: five T20Is (22 October – 1 November), five ODIs (4–15 November) and two Tests (19 November – 1 December).
What is the T20I series score?
India lead 3–0 after three matches, verified on ESPNcricinfo on 28 October 2026: India won the first two T20Is in Christchurch by 4 wickets and the third in Wellington by 6 wickets, sealing the series with two matches left.
Where are the matches played?
Hagley Oval, Christchurch; Hnry Stadium and Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington; Eden Park, Auckland; Seddon Park, Hamilton; and Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. See the full table above for which match is where.
Who is captaining India and New Zealand?
In the T20Is, Shreyas Iyer captained India and Mitchell Santner captained New Zealand, as shown on the verified scorecards. ODI and Test captaincy and squads are not stated here: reporting conflicted, and no NZC/BCCI announcement was confirmed in the checks for this article.
Updated: 28 October 2026. T20I results verified on ESPNcricinfo at drafting time. This page will be updated on the same URL as further matches are played; fixtures for unplayed matches are as announced by NZC on 3 June 2026 and should be re-checked against the match-day listing.
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