Rishabh Pant hopes to get a chance as India target historic 5-0 T20 series win over New Zealand

Virat Kohli's team looking to become first team in history to sweep five-match bilateral series

Rishabh Pant, left, will be hoping to get a chance in the fifth and final T20 against New Zealand on Sunday. AFP

India will be looking to become the first team in international cricket to sweep a five-match T20 series when they take on New Zealand in the final match in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

India won the fourth match in Wellington after a super over finish, which handed them a 4-0 lead. Incidentally, it was the second successive match between the two teams that was tied at the end of 20 overs and had to be decided by a super over.

If they manage to win on Sunday, Virat Kohli's team will become the first to win a bilateral T20 series 5-0; although it must be noted that five-match T20 series are rare in international cricket and especially among top nations.

The Kiwis will be especially heartbroken as they had the match in the bag in the past two games, failing to achieve simple targets of nine runs and seven runs in the last over.

The hosts are already without main bowlers Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. Captain Kane Williamson missed the last game due to a shoulder injury. With the series already lost, the Blackcaps might decide to give Williamson more time to recover.

India too will be looking to make some changes to their playing XI. Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja were rested for the last game and at least one of them should be back.

Captain Kohli might decide to take a break and hand over the captaincy to Sharma. In that case, wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant might get a look-in.

Until December, Pant was seen as an important member of India's limited overs set-up with captain and coach defending him on a number of occasions. However, after Pant suffered concussion while batting in the home ODI series against Australia early last month, KL Rahul excelled as a wicketkeeper batsman and that has kept the youngster sidelined.

However, India can now afford to bring in Pant, while resting Rahul, and give him complete freedom to get back to his best.

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