Chris Bishop is on his way to India today with sporting leaders from New Zealand as part of the government's ambitious push for sports diplomacy with the South Asian giant.  

"The minister will also be attending the India vs New Zealand T20 World Cup final, which he is very excited about," the sports minister's office told Awaaz.

Bishop is expected to reach India on the night of March 6 with at least 16 members in his contingent, and is scheduled to watch the World Cup finals on March 9.

While in Ahmedabad, Bishop will also meet senior officials from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and administrators involved in organising the 2028 T20 World Cup, which New Zealand will co-host with Australia.

The Ahmedabad engagement is part of Bishop’s visit to India that will also take him to Delhi and Mumbai between March 6 and March 11.

"In Delhi and Mumbai, he'll be accompanied by a delegation of sporting code leaders from across New Zealand," his office said. Bishop is also scheduled to meet India's sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya in Delhi.

Across the three cities, Bishop will hold bilateral meetings with Indian ministerial counterparts, meet major sports infrastructure providers, national sport administrators and high-performance sport innovators.

He will also host an event at the New Zealand High Commission celebrating a century of sporting ties between the two countries; and visit a secondary school for an event highlighting the role of sport in education.

This year marks 100 years of New Zealand-India sporting connections, dating back to an Indian army hockey team’s visit to New Zealand in 1926.

Officials say his India visit is driven by New Zealand’s Sport Diplomacy Strategy that Bishop launched last year, formally positioning sport as a tool of foreign policy, trade, investment, and international engagement.

For a country that consistently punches above its weight on the world stage, the strategy signals a shift from an instinctive use of sport offshore to a more deliberate, coordinated approach.

The government says the strategy also connects sport with economic goals such as trade, tourism, education and investment. Officials say international sporting cooperation, major events and athlete exchanges can open doors for New Zealand businesses and help strengthen engagement with priority markets, including India, the Pacific and the United States.

Bishop's trip to India also builds on prime minister Christopher Luxon’s trade mission to India last year, and the close of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries in December 2025.