Mouthwatering series finale awaits and India and New Zealand clash for the final time

With the series all square between India and New Zealand be prepared to witness the two mavens of the shortest format of the game going head on against each other for the final time in the series. India needed a very special performance from two of its most experienced T20I batters in the current squad, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, to draw level.

However, as the series finale knocks on the doors, it is going to be everything but easy considering the kind of performance that New Zealand has stitched so far. Both the sides have not allowed the other to run away and have actually forced the fixtures to the toe-end of the rope. 

India will try and have a deeper look at their top-order, a major concern for the Men in Blue that hasn’t particularly been smooth sailing. Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi and Ishan Kishan have struggled in the first two games and it will be intriguing to see whether Rahul Dravid and Co would want to force a change for the series finale.

The middle-order will once again be pinning their hopes on Hardik and Surya as the marauding Kiwi bowlers come sniffing for blood with some significant help being expected from an in-form Washington Sundar. 

New Zealand have had a couple of completely contrasting displays with the bat where they were sailing smoothly in the series opener while crashing face first in the following fixture. They do have a string of impressive hard-hitters of the cherry in their ranks and this is exactly what makes this a fine contest of the willow and the leather.

Venue Watch:

As Narendra Modi Stadium gears up for the prized series finale, the numbers in place state that this is going to be a modest scoring encounter. A total of 9 matches have so far been played in the stadium, 5 of which have been won batting first while 4 have been secured chasing. The average first innings score is 152 while the average score batting second is 147. The toss wouldn’t be ideally crucial considering the fact that the numbers are somewhat on par with each other, making this a balanced match.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 24

India: 11

New Zealand: 10

Match Details:

India vs New Zealand

Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

1st February 2023

7:00 PM IST

Squads:

India:

Hardik Pandya (c), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.

New Zealand:

Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver (wk), Devon Conway (wk), Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Ben Lister, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rippon, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner