Fresh-look Team India hope to begin on the right note against formidable New Zealand

With the wounds of the T20 World Cup yet to be healed, India will be taking the yard against the formidable Kiwis in the first T20I of the three-match series starting tomorrow. Both sides will be coming into this affair with a few unanswered questions and only a triumph shall help them settle frayed nerves.

Team India had a fine run in the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup where they steamrolled over Netherlands and Zimbabwe while securing thrilling victories against Pakistan and Bangladesh. Despite all the hustle and bustle in the group stages, they couldn't come up trumps against England jn the important semi-final.

New Zealand had a barnstorming start to the tournament, bossing the defending champions from the preceding year but couldn’t produce an identical display of domination as Pakistan managed to edge past them with consummate ease in the other semi-final.

India will have a few fresh faces from the T20 World Cup who will be shouldered with the onus of braving a momentous lateral movement that Kiwi pitches are infamous for while injecting a sense of reliability for the upcoming posterity. Hardik Pandya will have to showcase some resolute character as he leads the Indian side in the T20Is for the upcoming series.

The last time India visited New Zealand was back in 2020 where they inflicted an ignominious whitewash upon the Blackcaps to send out a reverberating statement. However, New Zealand soon caught up with the Indian speed and handed them a mortifying fiasco in the upcoming ODIs.

Finn Allen will definitely be an exciting prospect to watch out for after a fine run of form in the showpiece event, spearheading the New Zealand battery in the powerplay. It will also be interesting to witness how the Indian bowling unit fares without the likes of Trent Boult as the latter is on a hiatus after being denied a central contract.

Venue Watch:

With the India-New Zealand T20I being the opening international fixture in the shortest format of the game to be held in the Sky Stadium in Wellington, it will be intriguing to witness how the surface fares. A total of 19 T20 matches have so far been played with 9 contests won while batting first. The average score batting first is 154 while the average score chasing is 130. However, rain has had a major impact on how the ground would play out. The current prediction states that it is just going to be overcast conditions.

Stats:

Rohit Sharma is the leading run-scorer in the Indo-New Zealand rivalry in the shortest format of the game with 511 runs. However, Sharma is not a part of the squad for the Men in Blue for the series.

Brendon McCullum and Manish Pandey are the only two players to have a batting average of more than 100 runs in the India versus New Zealand rancour in T20Is.

Axar Patel’s 3 for 9 from his 3 overs at Eden Gardens in 2021 are the best figures by any Indian bowler against New Zealand in T20Is.

MS Dhoni has the highest number of dismissals in the India vs New Zealand face-offs in T20Is with 9 executions next to his name.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 20

India: 9

New Zealand: 9

Match Details:

India vs New Zealand

Sky Stadium, Wellington

18th November 2022

12:00 PM IST

Squads:

India:

Hardik Pandya (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

New Zealand:

Kane Williamson (C), Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner.