New Zealand vs India, 1st T20I, Preview: All eyes on Kane Williamson as the Black Caps look to hit back

New Zealand didn’t have the greatest of the ODI series against India and lost it 4-1. Barring the fourth encounter at the Seddon Park in Hamilton, where Trent Boult ripped the heart out of the Indian batting line-up with a five-wicket haul, the Black Caps couldn’t quite step in and deliver the goods. Their bowling did reasonably, but it was their batting that couldn’t quite show enough consistency.

Surprisingly, in conditions not conducive to spin bowling, the Kiwis’ batting literally surrendered to the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. After the poor outing, Kane Williamson’s men are set to lock horns against the Rohit Sharma-captained India in three T20Is, the first of which will be played tomorrow at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, the same venue where they lost the last ODI by 35 runs.

They can take heart from the fact that the Men in Blue are yet to win a T20I in New Zealand. India are in a positive frame of mind and would want to carry the momentum into the shortest format as well. Rohit has an incredible record as the Indian captain with a win percentage of 91.67 from 12 matches and he also has the chance of overtaking Virat Kohli in the list of the most successful Indian T20I captains.

Team Combinations

New Zealand

Colin Munro and Kane Williamson are the opening batsmen with wicketkeeper Tim Siefert at number three. The onus would be on Ross Taylor as well. Daryl Mitchell has performed exceptionally in the Super Smash and he may end up making his debut. James Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme are the all-rounders. Kuggelegin, Ferguson, and Southee are the pacers with Sodhi being the lone spinner.

Probable XI

Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (C), Tim Seifert (wk), Ross Taylor, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Scott Kuggelegin, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson

India

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan form the opening combination. Shubman Gill is set to make his T20I debut as well. It will be interesting to see how MS Dhoni plays after a break in the format. Both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik are also likely to play. The Pandya brothers- Hardik and Krunal- may play together for the first time. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul are the fast bowlers.

Probable XI

Rohit Sharma (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, MS Dhoni (wk), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Siddarth Kaul

Focus will be on

Colin Munro (New Zealand)

The southpaw has been one of the most dangerous batsmen in the T20s with three tons at the highest level. Nevertheless, his form of late has been a tad topsy turvy, to say the least. He had a rough ODI series and subsequently, he didn’t feature in one of the games. Meanwhile, India can’t afford to take him lightly by any stretch of the imagination as Munro previously scored a ton against them in 2016.

Kuldeep Yadav (India)

The Chinaman bowler has 33 wickets in the format in 17 matches at an economy rate of 6.74, which aren’t mere numbers. The 24-year-old has also shown that he can bowl in conditions that aren’t helpful for the spinners. Albeit he returned wicketless from the last two ODIs he played, he finished with a couple of four-wicket hauls. Kuldeep is expected to be a force to reckon with in the upcoming games.

Head to Head

Matches – 8 | New Zealand won – 2 | India won – 6 | NR – 0 | Tied – 0

Stat Attack

34- Runs Colin Munro needs to complete 5000 T20 runs.

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports Hindi 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD

Live Streaming – Hotstar

Match Timings – 12:30 IST; 18:00 local

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