First T20I preview: Team India will want to hold on to victory when they face New Zealand in the first T20I at lunch on Friday.
After a mixed finish the previous year, they suffered a humiliating defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-finals, losing yet another ODI series in Bangladesh, before bouncing back with a 2-0 sweep against Shakib Al Hasan-Tigers. Foremost, Men in Blue is off to a strong start to 2023.
They started the year with a 2–1 win over Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya. Rohit Sharma then returned as skipper for his one-day leg against the Lankans, and in the final ODI he swept his three-match series by slashing Dasun Shanaka’s men with 317 his lances.
India under Rohit’s leadership would produce similar results against the Black Caps. After overcoming a scare in Hyderabad, they extended their ODI winning streak to seven with dominant wins in Raipur and Indore.
Pandya will return to the leader role in three T20Is with New Zealand. This is India’s final whiteball game of his season at home followed by his Gavaskar Trophy on the border. And given the way they’ve been doing lately, Men in Blue kicks off the series with Lunch as a firm favourite.
team:
India: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gir, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Deepak Huda, Washington Thunder, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Ashdeep Singh.
new zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Mark Chapman, Darryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodi, Rocky Ferguson, Blair・Tickner
venue: JSCA stadium, lunch, Jharkhand.
time: 7:00 p.m. IST.
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