In international cricket, the New Zealand cricket team is currently on a tour of India for a 3-match T20I and a 2-match Test series. The tour is set to begin tomorrow with the first T20I match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The second match of the series will be played on November 19 at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi and the third match will be played on November 21 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
New Zealand and India have met in a total of 18 T20I matches since 2007. New Zealand has won 9 matches and India has won 8 matches out of them. The two teams last met in the 28th match of the latest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, where New Zealand won by 8 wickets against India. They also faced each other in the T20I series that was held in New Zealand in January 2020. The Black Caps were whitewashed by the Men in Blues in the 5-match series.
New Zealand played the last 5-match T20I series against hosts Bangladesh. The Kiwis lost the series 3-2. On the other hand, India played their last three-match T20I series against hosts Sri Lanka, where they lost 2-1 to the Lankans.
Out of the last 5 T20I series, both India and New Zealand have won 4 series each. The players of the runner-up New Zealand team, who performed well in the T20 World Cup, are now confident and will want to hold on to their performance.
On the other hand, India did not have a good time as they were eliminated from the Super 12 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). But this time the games are going to be played on the home soil of the Men in Blue. They will try their best to make the series memorable by doing something great.
India is ranked 2nd and New Zealand is ranked 4th in the ICC T20I rankings. So the Kiwis have to work hard in this series to create a solid position in the points table.
India vs New Zealand T20I Squad:
India – Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav,Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand – Tim Southee (c), Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman, Todd Astle, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne
T20I match schedule for India and New Zealand:
1st T20I – 17 November, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, 19:30 (GMT +6)
2nd T20I – 19 November, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi, 19:30 (GMT +6)
3rd T20I – 21 November, Eden Gardens, Kolkata, 19:30 (GMT +6)
The India-New Zealand series is going to roll on the field soon. For more updates on it, stay with Baji!