India after beating New Zealand 2-0 in the Test series will take on the visiting side in a two match T20 series, the first match to be played at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
This T20 series will be a very important for both the teams as the ICC World T20 is just round the corner and it will be played in somewhat similar conditions. The conditions in both Visakhapatnam and Chennai (venue for the second match) are almost similar to the conditions that the teams will find in Sri Lanka during the World Cup.
India will walk into the match as clear favourites as the Men-In-Blue have been in good form and are a force in home conditions. Indian batting line-up is one of the most dangerous line-up in the current scenario as all the batsmen are capable of winning a match on their own. From Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina to the Indian skipper MS Dhoni, all know the art of winning and have the experience of playing match winning innings.
Indian bowling is the problem area for Dhoni and he will know that better. The first innings of the second Test showed that Indian bowlers could panic when batsmen get into attacking mode. Ross Taylor dominated the Indians and scoring runs at a high pace never looked a problem for him.
New Zealand will know that they will walk into the match as the under-dogs. That fact might work in their favour as there will hardly be any pressure on them. New Zealand will fancy their chances playing in the shortest format as they won’t be expected to keep the paddle on the accelerator for five continuous days.
The best chance for New Zealand will be to put a big score and put the Indian batting under pressure and the Kiwis have players in their artillery to put up a fight. Ross Taylor already showed what he is capable of. Players like Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram have shown over the years what they are capable of doing.
Apart from the result all eyes will be on one Indian player who has made a dramatic entry into the Indian team. Yuvraj Singh successfully fought a rare germ cancer and is back into the Indian squad. Yuvraj’s story is an inspiration for everyone and it will be interesting to see how people treat him when he will walk into the field.
Another big player who is making a comeback into the Indian squad is Harbhajan Singh. He has been out of action from the England series and it will be interesting to see whether he gets an opportunity to play.
Overall, it is expected to be a high-octane match, the stadium will be full waiting to see the format that people now love the most.
New Zealand complete squad
Ross Taylor, Doug Bracewell, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne,Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
Indian complete squad:
MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Piyush Chawla, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh
By Indian Sports News Network
