File photo of Rohit Sharma
India T20 captain Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first against New Zealand at the toss of the first T20I in Jaipur on Wednesday. Sharma, standing in his first match as full-time India T20 skipper, decided to hand debut cap to IPL star Venkatesh Iyer while Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar returned to the line-up.
After winning the toss Sharma felt that chasing will be a wise choice as he saw a lot of dew during the practice sessions the other evening.
"The wicket looks good, thought behind is to have a score behind us, there was quite a lot of dew while practicing from a couple of days," Sharma said after winning the toss. "It's been good, has been only 2 days, been a quick turnaround, back from Dubai, spent a couple of days at home and back here. But it'll be good for the team. We have Shreyas Iyer back, Venkatesh is debuting, Bhuvi, Siraj and Chahar are back. We're playing three seamers and two spinners. We have one eye on the next World Cup, it's a lot of time ahead, we'll try our options, some results might not be immediate, but the process will be crucial."
PLAYING XI
India Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(c), Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
Kiwi's stand-in skipper Tim Southee, on the hand, said Lockie Ferguson returns to the line-up as James Neesham sits out.
"We'd have bowled as well, keeping dew factor in mind. Pretty disappointed at not winning the World Cup, but this is a great place to play cricket and the team is looking forward to it. Another chance to give chances - 4 changes for us - Neesham, KW, Sodhi and Milne miss out; Mark Chapman, Todd Astle, Rachin Ravindra and Lockie Ferugson are in," he said.
Under the new captaincy of Rohit Sharma and the guidance of coach Rahul Dravid, Team India will kick start their new journey in the shortest format of the game when they take on 2021 T20 World Cup finalist New Zealand in a three-match series starting on November 17, Wednesday. Team India will be playing without the services of former captain Virat Kohli as he opted for rest during the T20I series while New Zealand will be captained by veteran pacer Tim Southee as Kane Williamson will not be featuring in this series.
Head to head
New Zealand - 9
India - 8
Matches played in India
New Zealand - 3
India - 2
Matches Played in New Zealand
India - 6
New Zealand -4
Toss - Head to head
2007 World Cup - India, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 10 runs
India tour of New Zealand 1st T20I -New Zealand, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
India tour of New Zealand 2nd T20I - New Zealand, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 5 wickets
New Zealand tour of India 1st T20I - No toss - Match abandoned without a ball bowled
New Zealand tour of India 2nd T20I- India, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 1 run
2016 World Cup - New Zealand, elected to bat first - New Zealand won by 47 runs
New Zealand tour of India 1st T20I - New Zealand, elected to field first - India won by 53 runs
New Zealand tour of India 2nd T20I - New Zealand, elected to field first - India won by 6 runs
New Zealand tour of India 3rd T20I - New Zealand, elected to field first - India won by 6 runs
India tour of New Zealand 1st T20I - India, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 80 runs
India tour of New Zealand 2nd T20I - India, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 4 runs
India tour of New Zealand 1st T20I - India, elected to field first - India won by 6 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)
India tour of New Zealand 2nd T20I - New Zealand, elected to bat first - India won by 7 wickets (with 15 balls remaining)
India tour of New Zealand 3rd T20I- New Zealand, elected to field first - Match tied (India won the one-over eliminator)
India tour of New 4th T20I- New Zealand, elected to field first - Match tied (India won the one-over eliminator)
India tour of New Zealand 5th T20I - India, elected to bat first - India won by 7 runs
2021 World Cup - New Zealand, elected to field first - New Zealand won by 8 wickets
Probable Playing XI
India
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel/Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar/Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal
New Zealand
Daryl Mitchell, Martin Guptill, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee (c), Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult.
Squads
India Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Ishan Kishan, Venkatesh Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad
New Zealand Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Tim Seifert(w), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(c), Lockie Ferguson, Kyle Jamieson, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Todd Astle, Adam Milne
