Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 29: India must play as effectively as possible against New Zealand in the second T20I on January 29 in Lucknow if they want to tie the three-match series.
Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell scored outstanding half-centuries to lead New Zealand to a 21-run victory in the Ranchi T20I, trapping the Indian squad in a spin web.
India’s sloppy bowling, especially that of the pace team of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik, was further highlighted by the defeat. After tearaway pacer Malik gave up 16 runs in one over, Arshdeep gave up 27 runs in the penultimate over, putting pressure on the India hitters who were chasing.
Ishan Kishan and Deepak Hooda, two batsmen who are out of form, will come under scrutiny as the Indian team enters the game that must be won.
After scoring a record-breaking ODI double-century against Bangladesh in December, Kishan, who starts the innings, has struggled to make an impact with the bat. Ishan has scored 37, 2, 1, 5, 8*, 17, and 4 in his past seven ODI and T20I innings, respectively. He last struck a fifty against South Africa on June 14, 2022, if only T20Is are taken into account.
In the last 13 innings, Hooda, batting in the lower middle order, has averaged just 17.88, with his best score coming in an unbeaten 41 against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium. On Friday, he scored just 10 runs off of 10 balls while batting at No. 7, and his strike rotation was criticised, especially when the New Zealand spinners bowled. Hooda and Kishan’s time is running out, even though India are unlikely to utilise the youthful Jitesh Sharma as a wicketkeeper-batter in the middle order in Lucknow.
