The 2021 T20 World Cup runners-up, New Zealand will be locking horns with India for a three-match T20I series and followed by a two-match Test series in November-December. The first T20I will be played on the 17th of November at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. India’s new T20I captain Rohit Sharma will be taking over the baton from Virat Kohli from this series onwards. India has had a forgettable performance in the T20 World Cup and would be eyeing to regroup and start afresh.
A lot of new additions have been made to the Indian side for this series, including the youngsters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer, who had an excellent IPL season. For the Kiwis, the schedule has been highly hectic as they played a T20 World Cup Final on the 14th of November, and hence, Kane Williamson will be skipping the T20I series. In the T20 World Cup 2021, these two teams were placed in the same group (Group 2), and New Zealand defeated India in the Super 12 stage comprehensively by 8 wickets.
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India is currently placed 2nd on the Men’s ICC T20I rankings, whereas New Zealand is standing 4th on the list. These two sides have faced each other in 18 T20Is, where New Zealand has maintained a minor edge against India, by leading 9-8 in the head-to-head records so far. A series win for New Zealand will help reduce the pain of the T20 World Cup Final defeat. On the other hand, India will be desperate to come back to the winning ways, having been eliminated out from the Super 12 stage itself.
India
A lot of crucial cogs of Team India have been rested for this series like Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, and Shardul Thakur. The selectors have decided to reward the top performers from IPL 2021. In the two matches that all but sealed India’s exit from the T20 World Cup – against Pakistan and New Zealand – the batting unit had failed to tackle the spin threat from the opposition.
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In the two games, the Indian batsmen made 69 runs from the 14 overs they faced from the spinners and lost three wickets. New Zealand will come armed once again with Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi in their line-up and the onus is on the Indian batters to make a statement.
Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel/Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal.
New Zealand
Tim Southee will be leading the team in the absence of Kane Williamson in the T20I series. Lockie Ferguson, who was ruled out of the T20 World Cup, has made a good recovery and is expected to be available for selection. In the two matches leading to the final, New Zealand was forced to keep Santner out of the attack given the presence of left-handers. Kishan and Pant’s role will be crucial if India wants to curb the effect the spinners have.
Probable XI: Daryl Mitchell, Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne/Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee (c), Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult.
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
Tim Seifert, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma (c), Martin Guptill, KL Rahul, Jimmy Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Trent Boult (vc), Ish Sodhi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Rishabh Pant, Glenn Phillips, KL Rahul (c), Martin Guptill, Rohit Sharma, Daryl Mitchell (vc), Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal
