Indian captain Shubman Gill has praised Shreyas Iyer for leading the T20I team with aplomb. The visitors registered a 3-2 series against the Kiwis to kickstart their tour on a high. Earlier, Iyer led the team to Asian Games gold medal.
Meanwhile, India took an impregnable lead of 3-0 in the five-match series against the Blackcaps. However, the tourists veered off the track in the last two games, and suffered back to back losses.
Shubman Gill will lead India in the first three ODIs before handing over to Shreyas Iyer for the final two matches as he would prepare for the Test series.
“I think he led the T20 series beautifully. You know, playing in a country like New Zealand and winning the first two matches is never easy, and even more so given the kind of situation we were in in the first and second T20s. Making a comeback from there, you know, those are the kind of matches that completely change the momentum. Now the momentum is with us, having won that series, and a lot of our boxes are ticked. New Zealand will look to come hard at us, which I think we are well prepared for,” Gill said in a video uploaded by the BCCI.
The Indian skipper said there is similarity in conditions of New Zealand and South Africa, where the ODI World Cup will be played next year.
“The conditions that we’re going to get here are going to be a lot more similar to the ones that we’re going to get in the World Cup, especially playing here in early November. Usually, whenever we play in South Africa or in New Zealand or in Australia, we play around December or January, whereas the World Cup is in October and November. So I think the conditions are going to be a lot more similar, and it’s going to be a really good experience for us,” Gill said, as quoted by BCCI.
India won the opening ODI against the Kiwis by five wickets. The second ODI between India and New Zealand will be played at the Hnry Stadium, Wellington, on Saturday.
