The hosts New Zealand and the visitors India are ready for the first game of the five-match T20I series at Eden Park (Auckland). India won the toss and decided to field first.
It is going to be their first international meeting since the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Old Trafford in Manchester. In that rain-interrupted game, India suffered the 18-run defeat against the Black Caps. Well, that defeat disheartened the Indian cricket fans.
We just gotta come out and play with belief in our abilities: Indian captain
Coming back to this match, India are the fifth-ranked T20I side while New Zealanders are the sixth-ranked T20I team. Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bowl first.
Kohli said after winning the toss, “We’re gonna have a bowl first. Looks a nice pitch to bat on. It might be hard to pick the ball up initially due to twilight. We’re pretty much fine (from the travel) but we’re fine now. We’ve played 50-over cricket (heading to this series) and are ready for T20 cricket. The five guys not playing are Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Sanju Samson. The character to bounce back from difficult situations gives us an edge in alien conditions. We just gotta come out and play with belief in our abilities.”
It’s a chance for us to become a better side and execute our plans: New Zealand captain
Kane Williamson said, “It was a 50-50 decision with the track being used. We would want to get some runs on the board first and then defend it. The two guys missing out are Mitchell and Kuggeleijn. So we have two seamers, de Grandhomme. It’s a fantastic opportunity against one of the best sides, if not the best sides. It’s a chance for us to become a better side and execute our plans.”
New Zealand vs India 2020:
Here are the playing XIs of both the teams:
New Zealand playing XI: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Tim Seifert (wk), Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Hamish Bennett
Indian playing XI: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami