Lagatar24 Desk
Jaipur, Nov 17: India and New Zealand are set to face each other in the first T20I of the three-match series on Wednesday, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
Both teams missed the opportunity to win the World Cup this year and the next World Cup is also going to be held within 11 months. So, this series is an opportunity for India and New Zealand to prepare players for that tournament.
This time, the Indian team will play under new captain Rohit Sharma and new coach Rahul Dravid. For the first time, Rohit will lead India as a full-time T20 captain.
India will have to decide who will be their sixth batsman among Shreyas Iyer, Rituraj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer. While Shreyas was present before his injury in the first quarter of the year, Gaikwad has been in form since the second phase of the IPL. Venkatesh’s performance was also good and he offered an option to bowl. In addition, he has batted at number five and number six for his home state, Madhya Pradesh, with some regularity.
Talking about the pitch, the larger ground dimensions at Sawai Mansingh Stadium gives spinners some cover too, and since 2019, they have had a better average and economy rate than fast bowlers. However, no T20I has been held there yet.
Probable Playing XIs
India – Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer/Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel/Avesh Khan
New Zealand – Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips (WK), Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Tim Southee (C), Lockie Ferguson/Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
