After suffering a crushing 10-wicket defeat against England in the semifinal of T20 World Cup, Team India is all set to bounce back in the three-match T20I series against New Zealand starting from Friday. The Men in Blue will miss several senior stars including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as it will be time for India to kickstart the rejuvenation process with some young players. Hardik Pandya will lead the team in the absence of Rohit.
The series against New Zealand could throw up players who may become vital cogs in ending India’s wait for silverware in the shortest format since winning the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007.
India will use a fresh opening pair against New Zealand as Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan are expected to open the innings. Shubman has been scoring consistently well in the domestic circuit and also smacked a century in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. While Kishan has been in the mix for the past year but he failed to get a place in the T20 World Cup. It will be crucial for him to cement his place in the top order.
Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda will be in contention to bat at number 3 in the line-up. While number 1 ranked ICC batter Suryakumar Yadav will be the undisputed starter and will bat at number 4. It will be interesting to see among Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson who will get the nod in the XI. There might be a chance that India might play both but for it, they have to use Hardik as the fifth bowler.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who didn’t get included in the XI for the T20 World Cup matches, is expected to start against New Zealand. While Washington Sundar might partner with him to add more depth to the batting line-up. Kuldeep Yadav is another option in the spin department.
India have chosen five pacers in the 16-member squad and it will be a task for VVS Laxman and Hardik Pandya to fight the right choices. Umran Malik might return to the Indian set-up looking at the future, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar might get an extended rope in the starting XI.
India’s T20I Squad: Hardik Pandya (C), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik.
