Kane Williamson-less New Zealand opt to bowl 1st in 4th T20I vs India

WELLINGTON: New Zealand will bowl first in the fourth Twenty20 against India in Wellington on Friday without talismanic skipper Kane Williamson.

Williamson was a late scratching having not fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered when diving for the ball in the last game.

India wrapped up the series with the super-over victory in game three to go 3-0 up with two to play.

Tim Southee, New Zealand's stand-in captain, said even though the series had gone, his side were not despondent.

"We showed a lot of improvements (in game three). It's about keeping improving as a side and doing the small things well," he said.

New Zealand have made two changes, with Daryl Mitchell replacing Williamson and Tom Bruce coming in for Colin de Grandhomme.

India have made three changes, although captain Virat Kohli insisted a clean sweep of the five-match series remained their target.

Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini came in for Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja.

New Zealand have won their last six T20s at the Wellington stadium.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Tim Seifert, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee (capt), Scott Kuggeleijn, Hamish Bennett

India: Sanju Samson, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (capt), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah

Umpires: Chris Brown (NZL), Shaun Haig (NZL)

TV Umpire: Ashley Mehrotra (NZL)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)