New Zealand and India suffered disappointing losses in the semifinal of the recently concluded T20 World Cup against Pakistan and England respectively and they will now face each other in the first T20I at Wellington on Friday.
Both of these teams came up with dominating performances in the Super 12 stage of the World Cup but they were dominated in their respective semi-final clashes.
However, both of these teams will play a different team in the upcoming series. Hardik Pandya will lead India in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who has been rested. Furthermore, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, and Mohammed Shami will be the notable absentees.
As they say ‘bad habits die hard’, India’s sedate approach in the PowerPlay overs came crawling back in the T20 World Cup and they will need to redefine their batting strategy.
The series will also provide a good chance for players like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Umran Malik, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, and Harshal Patel to put their names back in the reckoning.
On the other hand, Martin Guptill and Trent Boult have been left out of New Zealand’s squad. The Kiwis have always been a force to reckon with in their own conditions and they will look to make the most of it.
Match Prediction: New Zealand will start as favorites against India as they will be playing in their own conditions.
India T20I squad for the New Zealand tour: Hardik Pandya (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
New Zealand T20I squad: Kane Williamson (capt), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway (wk), Lockie Ferguson, Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner.
