Ind v NZ World T20 Preview: Super 10 begins with a mouth-watering clash in Nagpur

The current form makes India the clear favourites for an unprecedented 2nd World T20 title but the hosts will not be complacent when they take on a spirited New Zealand in their campaign-opener in the City of Oranges tomorrow. No host country has won the World T20 title in the last 5 editions and none has repeated a title triumph, but India’s settled combination make them firm favourites to create history in front of home fans.

India:

India will go into the Super 10 Group 2 clash against the Kiwis full of confidence as the number one ranked team in the world in the shortest format. India has been on a roll ever since a 3-0 whitewash of Australia in their backyard. The Men in Blue then defeated Sri Lanka by a margin of 2-1 at home.  Five consecutive wins in Dhaka, including in the summit clash against Bangladesh got the team the Asia Cup T20.

Virat Kohli has been in terrific form, in the last two months. On top of his game, the India Test skipper has made four half-centuries in seven innings, and two other scores in the 40s, besides leading four successful run-chases. With an average of over 50 after 38 matches, he remains one of the players who will be feared by the opposition along with the equally talented Rohit Sharma who is set to play in his sixth WT20 championship. Mohammad Shami made a strong case for himself by bowling impressive spells in the warm-up games and it will be interesting to see if he replaces veteran seamer Ashish Nehra from the lineup that played the final of Asia Cup.

New Zealand:

New Zealand has the players to trouble India although they would be missing the fire-power and attacking captaincy of Brendon McCullum who has retired recently. The team has been tipped to be one of the four potential semi-finalists by many experts and there is merit in this assessment. They have batsmen capable of quick scoring – Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi and skipper Kane Williamson himself. They have all-round talent – Corey Anderson, Grant Elliott, Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner. They have quality specialist bowlers – Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan, Ish Sodhi.

The biggest challenge for the Kiwis is to transfer their recent form to spinning conditions against quality teams – India, Pakistan and Australia – in the group stage. New Zealand is number 4 on the ICC’s T20 rankings, and will feel they have something to prove.  New Zealand will gain confidence from the fact that they are unbeaten against India in T20s in four outings in the past including once during India’s stunning title run in the inaugural edition in 2007 in South Africa. The Kiwis had also won four out of their last five T20 Internationals – against Pakistan and Sri Lanka – and will look to continue their good form.

Pitch and Conditions:

The VCA Stadium in Jamtha is generally a high-scoring venue however the surface seemed to slow down during the course of the qualifiers. The temperatures in Nagpur have been in the high 30s and on Saturday the city witnessed an unexpectedly rainy night when Scotland played against Hong Kong. New Zealand looked uncomfortable against spin in their loss against England in the warm-up match. Their batsmen will have to be on top of their game against the home side’s quality spinners.

Form Guide: (Last five completed games most recent first)

India WWWWW

New Zealand WWLWW

Probable XI-

India: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami/Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Corey Anderson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi (wk), Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult.

Stats:

1. New Zealand has managed 11 wins in World T20 matches, from 25 games. Among ICC Full Members, only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have had fewer victories than New Zealand at the past five tournaments.

2. There have been nine ties in the history of T20 international cricket, and New Zealand has played in five of them.

3. R Ashwin needs 4 wickets to complete 50 wickets in T20Is. He is India’s leading wicket-taker in the shortest format.