The opening of the T20 international tour between New Zealand and India will take place on November 18, Friday, at Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. India arrived in New Zealand after receiving a good beating from England in the semi-finals of the recently concluded T20 World Cup, but with a squad full of fresh young legs and substitute head coach VVS Laxman, fans are hoping for a spring in the team's footsteps.
Laxman gave a hint of what to expect when he said India would be looking to fill the squad with T20 specialists as they look for a course correction after yet another World Cup defeat. Indian cricket fans are therefore hoping that Sanju Samson and Umran Malik will make the most of their opportunities.
Having not learned from their mistakes, India will look to shed their archaic style of play for good with the help of a 'young and fearless' squad in the three-game T20I series against New Zealand which begins on Friday.
After last year's World Cup debacle in the United Arab Emirates, India continued with an aggressive batting approach, but when the next edition hit, the top order was found to be too weak, failing to attack the opposition.
India has been in circles as the wait for the first ICC trophy in nine years has grown.
With the next T20 World event two years away, India will have plenty of time to identify players and prepare for an attack at all costs as England show.
Hardik Pandya, who could lead the team in the upcoming T20 showpiece, will lead the team in Rohit Sharma's absence.
VVS Laxman stand-in head coach indicated that management would aim to hire only T20 specialists to meet the demands of the modern game. Although the focus has shifted to ODIs ahead of next year's World Cup, India wants to make most of the T20 matches here and the remaining nine they play ahead of the 50 over mega event.
New Zealand, under Kane Williamson's leadership, will field a near full-strength side. Like India, they loss in a World Cup knockout game and would like to bounce back strongly.
Squads:
New Zealand - Kane Williamson, Michael Bracewell, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Blair Tickner.
India - Hardik Pandiya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.
When and Where to Watch India vs New Zealand
The T20 series between India and New Zealand starts on Friday, November 18 and the live broadcast of the T20 match starts at 12:00 PM IST. This match will be held at the Wellington Regional Stadium. The match will be streamed live at 11ic 9Wickets Sports.
Match Update: Toss delayed due to rain, stay tuned for further updates only here at 11ic.com.
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