After the shocking Mumbai ODI defeat, Indian cricketers will have to tighten the grip on their game plan from the second home ODI assignment against Australia. The Aussie cricketers are playing in India for the three-match ODI series that will run till 19 Jan.
However, right after this limited-overs series, Virat Kohli & Co. will have to gird up their loins to prepare for a one-on-one with New Zealand (NZ). The India team will be visiting New Zealand for five T20Is, three ODIs and two-match Test series. The tour will start from Jan 24 and will go on for more than a month as the second Test taking place from Feb 29 – Mar 04.
Nevertheless, the upcoming face-off is the most anticipated one as the host bowlers gave Kohli & his men a tough time during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Meanwhile, earlier that same year (2019), India already had faced the wrath of the Kiwi pacers who defeated the Men in Blue by 2-1 in the three-match T20I series.
And ahead of the Australia series, team India announced their squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. However, few names were missing who were anticipated to be seen in the New Zealand tour because of their stunning performances in the game.
Five Indian cricketers ignored for the New Zealand (NZ) T20I series:
Suryakumar Yadav:
Best suited for the shorter format of cricket, Suryakumar Yadav has yet to feature in the international cricket. Although he has given several stunning performances in the recent domestic games, Suryakumar still awaits the maiden national call.
However, his form in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a twenty-overs domestic tournament, had cricket fans and critics speculate him to be donning the Indian jersey soon. The right-hander played amazing knocks in the last two games of the Syed Mushtaq tournament.
In the game against Karnataka, his bewitchingly unbeaten knock of 94 runs became the highlight for Mumbai as they defeated the opponents by seven wickets. However, the team was still out of the tournament while Karnataka emerged as the ultimate winners.
Nevertheless, the 29-year-old cricketer played his usual best. However, it came as a shock to all the cricket fans and the critics that he wasn’t named in the T20I squad visiting New Zealand.