Ranchi: India will look forward to seal the T20I series as they take on New Zealand in the second game of the three-match campaign at the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi on Friday (November 19).
The hosts in their new Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid era registered a five-wicket win in the opening game over Kiwis last Wednesday in Jaipur.
After Ravichandran Ashwin(2/23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar(2/24) lead the Indian bowling change restricting the Kiwis to 164, Rohit Sharma(48) and Suryakumar Yadav(62) gave blistering start to the chase for the “Men in Blue” however, it went down to the wire as Kiwis made a slender comeback to stretch the game till the penultimate over.
The Blackcaps therefore on the other hand have all the reasons to make a comeback in the series. Mark Chapman who wasn’t seen in the T20 World Cup, grabbed eye balls played a handful knock alongside top scorer Martin Guptill while the dynamic duo of Tim Southee-Trent Boult is still a oiled machine ready to test the hosts.
For India, the main would be middle which crumbled unnecessarily in the last game with Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant panicking at the wrong time. A forced change in the XI might be on the card with seamer Harshal Patel could possibly replace Mohammed Siraj who got hurt badly in the last game by Mitchell Santner in the last over of the innings. As for the Kiwis, skipper Tim Southee might go for an unchanged side.
India possible XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel
New Zealand possible XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee (c), Rachin Ravindra, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
