New Delhi: India may have registered their 50th ODI win over New Zealand but they are yet to log a victory over the Black Caps in T20 internationals. The high-flying hosts will like to correct that statistic and give the perfect farewell to Ashish Nehra, who has decided to hang up his boots, by winning the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on Wednesday.
India have ended up on the losing side in all five matches against the Kiwis, the last of which came in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.
Seeing the recent performances, many cricket pundits may have put their money on the Indian team, but World No.1 New Zealand could also turn the tables with their cent percent record against the hosts.
The two teams faced off twice in New Zealand, twice in India and once in South Africa; and New Zealand won all the five matches.
There are several match-winning players in the New Zealand squad. Apart from skipper Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls have the ability to change the game at any time.
Experienced batsman Ross Taylor was also recalled to the New Zealand set-up in place of injured legspinner Todd Astle, which will give a boost to their batting department.
The bowlers have also shown their class in the ODI series. Experienced pacer Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme will be the key in the shortest format.
Spinners Ish Sodhi and Adam Milne could add much more to their bowling line-up on the slow Feroz Shah Kotla pitch here if they bowl on the right areas.
India, on the other hand, have ticked many boxes in the ODI series. But they would like to improve the performance in both the departments.
Youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and pacer Mohammed Siraj would want to make their mark, and other batsmen like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik would like to continue their momentum in order to register India's maiden T20I win over the Kiwis.
In the bowling department, Nehra will play a crucial role in the first match if Virat Kohli includes him in the squad for the farewell game of his career.
Nehra will be supported by Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled brilliantly in the recently-concluded ODI series.
Spinners Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will also play an important role on the spin-friendly wicket, but it remains to be seen who gets Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri's nod to be in the eleven.
So, with the records favouring the visitors, it will be interesting to see what India can do to change their T20I fortunes. For the record, a clean sweep in the series will take India to No. 2 in the ICC T20I Rankings.
(With inputs from IANS)
