Beaming with confidence, India take on New Zealand as Hardik Pandya's brigade won the toss and opted to field first in the first T20I of the three-match series at the JSCA International Stadium Complex on Friday (January 27).
Skipper Hardik dropped Yuzvendra Chahal from India's Playing XI as Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Singh and Jitesh Sharma also missed out in the T20I series opener.
“We will have a bowl first. Looks like a good track. I can see dew right now. Just go out there and play the best cricket we know. It is a young team. We will focus on playing good cricket. Playing the ODIs before T20Is makes it easy to pass on. For a lot of them it is an experience just being in the team. Yuzi, Mukesh, Jitesh and Prithvi miss out,” Hardik said after India won the toss.
Meanwhile, Black Caps' captain Mitch Santner said, “We were challenged in the ODIs. There is no experience like playing India at home. Would be a challenge for some of the new guys. Looks pretty good. The dew is setting in. Would have been good to bowl first. Putting runs on the board and then defending would be challenging. Tom Latham and Nicholls are gone. Chapman and Sodhi are in.”
The Blackcaps will be keen to avenge that loss in the three-match T20I series against India as they lost the last slam bang series 0-1.
Head-to-Head
India lead the head-to-head record in T20Is against New Zealand by 12-9. The two teams have competed in 23 T20Is, with the last two of them not producing a result.
Pitch report
"The average first innings score is 156. Square boundaries are little over 60 and straight boundaries are little over 70, in the corner around the players pavilion it's only 57 and 59 metres. The pitch looks excellent, there is even covering of grass and there might be some help with the new ball. There is a lot of talk about the dew, the curator kept the grass as minimum as possible on the outfield to negate the dew factor. The ball will skid on nicely, but looks an excellent pitch for batting," Ajit Agarkar and Danny Morrison analyse the pitch.
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.
New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner(c), Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner.
