Wasim Jaffer picks his playing XI for first T20I against New Zealand

Former Indian Test team opener Wasim Jaffer is a known man on social media and is a quite popular name when it comes to social media battles with England legend Michael Vaughan. In the recent turn of events, he posted his choice of India XI for the first T20I against New Zealand via the micro-blogging site Twitter.

At the time of squad announcement, India had gone with a balanced squad, presenting a mix of youth and experience. Suryakumar Yadav has been named vice-captain for the third consecutive series in a row and has been good on the field as well when Hardik is in the dressing room. India has the chance to experiment a lot because the T20I World Cup is next year and can focus on building the right squad for now and play with a winning mentality. 

Jaffer made his XI while putting Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill in the opening slot whereas Shivam Mavi, Umran Malik, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh made into his bowling department.

My India XI for tonight:

Ishan (wk)
Gill
Tripathi
SKY
Hardik (c)
Hooda
Sundar
Mavi
Kuldeep
Umran
Arshdeep

What's yours? #INDvNZ

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 27, 2023

Jaffer, who predicts the Indian team on the eve of the game or in the morning of the game, did so for this T20I as well and chose Kuldeep over Chahal and also picked the young speedster Shivam Mavi in his team.

The former batter also picked the young gun Arshdeep Singh who had a torrid time during the Sri Lanka series and would hope to have a better performance this time around against the Kiwis. 

Jaffer 1st T20I Squad: Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Hardik Pandya (c) Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh

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