India holds all aces: Men in Blue brace for T20I challenge against NZ

RANCHI: India is set for a T20I appetiser ahead of its marquee Test series against Australia, when it faces the touring New Zealand team in a three-match series beginning here on Friday.

With less than two weeks left for the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia that will determine India’s World Test Championship final fate, a T20I series in the midst of a packed ODI calendar ahead of the 50-over World Cup may seem purposeless.

As a result, Hardik Pandya, who led a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka earlier this month, is back leading the T20I side with some regulars and fringe players in the home team’s squad.

While skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami are being rested, the likes of Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Kuldeep Yadav will get an extended run before they assemble for the Test series camp at Nagpur from February 2.

There is also the welcome addition of attacking Mumbai opener Prithvi Shaw, who returns to the team on the back of a series of superlative performances in domestic cricket, including a record-breaking 379 against Assam in the Ranji Trophy recently.

Gill has been in the form of his life, especially in the ODIs, where he has scored his career-best 208 to go alongside two centuries in last four innings.

When it comes to the T20 format, the elegant Punjab batter may look a bit iffy but he has showed that he has all the shots in his armoury to cement an opening slot.

Suryakumar had a quiet ODI series against New Zealand but when it comes to the T20 format, the 360-degree batter becomes a dangerous entity. While the batting looks sorted, it is the bowling department that may demand some attention.

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, who returned from injury, was in the eye of storm in the series against Sri Lanka. He would look to come up with a tidy show.

But there was also a bright spot, with Shivam Mavi capping an impressive debut with figures of 4/22.

Mavi bowled with pace and the way he cleaned up Pathum Nissanka is still fresh in the mind. The speedster would be keen to form a potent combination with express pace bowler Umran Malik.

In the last ODI, India had got a chance to witness ‘Kul-Cha’ in action after a long time but come the T20Is, the host may have to fret over the inclusion of either Kuldeep Yadav or Yuzvendra Chahal.

Chahal has been the preferred option in the format and in the absence of left-arm spinner Axar Patel, it remains to be seen if the leg-spinner is persisted with.

India has been at its marauding best in the ODIs but it would expect some fightback from the Kiwis team, which will be led by Mitchell Santner in the T20 leg.