Internet Desk: High on confidence Indian cricket team would be eyeing to complete their third T20I series triumph in five years span when they will lock horns with the World No.1 T20 side New Zealand in the second match of the three-match series at Rajkot on Saturday.
The Men in Blue beat the mighty Kiwis in the first time in the history of the T20Is as they registered 53-run win at the Feroz Shah kotla to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma led the foundation with a century partnership and later the bowlers bowled brilliantly to hand the home side their first T20I win against New Zealand.
The hosts are going through a red hot form, and it would be an uphill task for Kane Williamson & Co. to prevent India from winning their third T20I series victory in eight series, going back to 2012-13, three of which were drawn encounters.
The last match of the mouth watering encounter will take place at Thiruvananthapuram on November 7.
Star opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma shared a partnership of record 158 runs to help the side to cross the 200-run mark.
The Black Caps’ new ball attack of Trent Boult and Tim Southee lacked discipline in Delhi. It’s a bit of a surprise that these two experienced Kiwi bowlers have been ineffective with yorkers at the death, unlike the Indian duo of Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar.
And the catching too has let the Black Caps down in contrast to some superb outfield efforts by the Men in Blue.
“We were outplayed in all the areas, fielding included, which is something we pride ourselves on and something we need to be much better at in Twenty20 cricket,” Williamson had said after the Delhi loss to Virat Kohli-led India.
Kohli has led the team from the front and is himself fast approaching the 2000-run landmark in T20Is.
If the top batsmen fall cheaply, there are others spearheaded by former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come to the home team’s rescue.
In slow bowling too leggie Yuzvendra Chahal has continued to trouble the Black Caps’ batsmen, in particular captain Williamson and senior pro Ross Taylor who is unable to read the twirl on the ball off the wrist spinner’s hand.
Incidentally, this would be the second T20 International to be played at this venue on the outskirts of the city which was the home venue of IPL side Gujarat Lions earlier this year. The first one was against Australia in October, 2013, won by the home side.
It has also hosted two ODIs at this stadium in 2013 and 2015 and in both these games India ended up on the losing side against England and South African respectively.
It became a Test venue last season when India played against England.
Teams (from):
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.