New country, same task. India carried the run-rich theme of the West Indies series into the southern hemisphere, pipping New Zealand in a 225 vs 230 opener. Fortunately for the tourists, who are switching venues almost every other day, Hagley Oval will host the second T20I as well. “We’ve got to forget the jet lag,” Shreyas Iyer quipped after the first working day of a long tour. Some of that recovery would hopefully happen before they switch from South to North Island.
Even in their opening defeat, New Zealand had plenty of positives. A quick opening stand, Glenn Phillips’s rapid gear switching and Bevon Jacobs’s fierce cameo all combined to make a meaty total. Then, they did well to claw back after India’s opening blitz. The chase could well have derailed, but Naman Dhir’s late blitz scuppered the hosts’ closing act.
Phillips recited the English alphabet from C to J when describing their alternative plans to counter India’s batting, particularly in the Powerplay. In hindsight, that jarringly stood out as a phase of improvement for New Zealand. As did their fielding, even if a peeved Phillips couldn’t come to a consensus with a journalist over the exact number of dropped catches.
When: New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I, October 24, 8pm local time
Where: Hagley Oval, Christchurch
What to expect: Given the dimensions, a 455-run aggregate wasn’t entirely expected, but it’s likely to play out the same way in the second game too. The second match begins at 8pm as well, in nippy weather (temperature usually falls under 20’C during match time), with dew coming in quickly. Iyer noted the surface played out a bit slow to start with, before becoming flatter. Sanju Samson also pointed out that there was plenty of swing to start with, but the ball nicely came off the surface. It’s the early movement seamers from both sides would want to capitalise on.
Team news
India
Ishan Kishan has been ruled out of the second game due to a “low-grade, right adductor strain”, which could lead to a shuffle of the batting order. That was why Tilak Varma was promoted to three: India could keep the same top three and bring in Shivam Dube to bolster the middle order.
There’s a higher likelihood of fielding Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, an option the batting coach Sitanshu Kotak hinted at ahead of the second game. The 15-year-old prodigy featured at the Asian Games but hasn’t been in their first-choice plans yet. If they do play him, one of Samson or Abhishek Sharma will have to drop to No.3, unless they give Sooryavanshi a non-opener’s role, something which he hasn’t done yet in his 42-match T20 career.
Predicted XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi/Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav
New Zealand
With no immediate concerns, the hosts wouldn’t want to make any knee-jerk changes. After the game, Phillips spoke about their rich fast-bowling depth, calling it a “great problem to have”. That rotation of those riches could kick in later in the series.
Matt Henry and Adam Milne went for plenty with the new ball, but if New Zealand do plan to rejig – now or later – they have the option of bringing in Kyle Jamieson or Jacob Duffy into the mix. Phillips counted himself out as a bowling option in the opener, which suggests they are happy continuing with the division of spin responsibilities between Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell.
Predicted XI: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson
Did you know?
– India have now chased down 200+ men’s T20I totals seven times, joint-most with Australia
– Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has the best strike-rate (214.83) in men’s T20 cricket (min. 1000 runs)
– Samson-Abhishek and Allen-Seifert form the two best T20I opening pairs in terms of scoring rate, with run-rates of 11.45 and 11.28 respectively, the highest among all pairs with 15+ innings
What they said
“At the start, I felt there was a lot of hype that he (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) should play. I genuinely felt that such hype is not good for a player as well, for a young 15/16-year-old boy, that everyone is saying that he should play, and he is not getting a place” – India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak feels Sooryavanshi has matured over time, and understands the value of waiting for his spot
“The guys at the IPL last year probably got sick of me spending an hour batting and then 45 minutes batting left-handed as well,” New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips, when describing the work behind that switch hit, the product of a whole year of extra practice
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