New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the 2nd T20I match at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. The visitors outclassed Hardik Pandya and Co. in the series opener with all-round performances as India failed to read the pitch right in Ranchi.
New Zealand stuck with the same playing XI for Lucknow T20I as they don’t want to hamper the winning combination and look to clinch the series on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Indian team made one change to their XI as tearaway pacer Umran Malik missed out and Yuzvendra Chahal was included in the side to add more strength to the spin department. Umran was a bit expensive in the only over he bowled against New Zealand in the series opener. While Chahal’s inclusion will also mark the return of Kul-Cha in the shortest format after a long time.
India vs New Zealand 2nd T20I Live Score And Updates
Prithvi Shaw was the other notable omission from the side as India stuck with Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi at the top of the batting order.
The New Zealand captain said that he took the decision to bat first after looking at the recent history of the venue where chasing turned out to be a difficult task on several occasions.
“We are gonna have a bat. The stats say that it’s challenging to chase here. We’ll try to get some runs on the board and see what it does. We had a tough one-day series, it was nice to bounce back with a win. Different guys stepping up at different times is always nice. It’s never easy to beat India at home. That partnership between Surya and Hardik put them right back in the game. The key is to take wickets through the middle, that’s the best way to slow them down. You got to take that (bigger ground dimensions) into account. Same team,” Santner said at the toss.
India vs England U-19 Women’s T20 WC Final Live Score
Meanwhile, Hardik also admitted he was also looking to bat first but assured that the team is ready for any challenge.
“We were also thinking to bat first but bowling is also fine. This is a new team, but we have spoken about getting into the challenge and having to do difficult things. It can’t difficult than this in a bilateral series, losing the first game and then two games on the line. Looking forward to this game. We are going to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s important they come out here and enjoy the sport. We all should remember that we started playing this sport to enjoy, so I just want to pass that message to the team. It might turn. That’s the reason we have made one change. Umran misses out, Yuzi comes in. The KulCha is back, a lot of people wanted to see, they are wicket-takers. The way Washi is playing, we’ve got three proper spinners who can squeeze if required,” Hardik said.
India (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan(w), Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here
Comments
0 comment