Match Preview - India vs New Zealand,1st T20

India takes on New Zealand in the first of two T20I games on Saturday at Vizag.

Test Victories haven’t sunken in yet. More than the victory, the way they defeated the kiwis in both the tests was good for all the fans who haven’t yet forgotten the dry patch that India had at England and Australia. Comeback player Cheteshwar Pujara’s century in the first test and the nextgen dependable Virat Kohli‘s century in the second test received accolades from the experts. India proved their dominance in the longer format. But when it comes to the shortest format, India still trails New Zealand. New Zealand has a 100% winning record against India in T20I. Notably, all the 3 matches India played away from home; 2 at New Zealand and 1 at South Africa. When the players step out for action on Saturday, India will look to pick up a win against the black caps.

Having fought with germ cell cancer post a successful 2011 world cup campaign, Yuvraj Singh returns to international scene again in Saturday’s game. No wonder, he will be the center of attraction for the entire game. His stamina will come into focus as he is without much of match practice right now. But his tweet about his T20 practice game couple of weeks ago gives an idea of his performance. His form will really be a key for India’s world cup campaign. Given Ravindra Jadeja’s omission, Yuvraj’s left arm spin has a huge role to play.

New Zealand’s line up is powered by McCullum and Guptill at the top of the order. James Franklin’s all round capabilities and Ross Taylor’s aggressiveness will be the factors worrying India which heavily depends on their top 4 batsmen – Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina and Kohli.

MATCH DETAILS:

Date : 8 September, 2012Venue : Vishakhapatnam District Cricket Association Stadium, VishakhapatnamTimings : 1900 hrs IST*Channels Telecasting : Star Cricket, Star Cricket HD

PREVIOUS MEETING:India vs New Zealand, ICC World T20 – 13th Match, 16 September 2007, Johannesburg( NZ 190/10 | Ind 180/9 | NZ won by 10 runs )

TEAM PROBABLES:

INDIA:1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 MS Dhoni (c), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Zaheer Khan

NEW ZEALAND:1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Ross Taylor (c), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Rob Nicol, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 James Franklin, 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Kyle Mills

PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR:Suresh Raina had a decent outing in tests but when it comes to T20s, not many in world cricket can be half as good as he is. He is one of the aggressive batsmen for CSK. Although he plays in the lower middle order for the nation, he will be as destructive and dangerous as ever.

Ross Taylor, the New Zealand Skipper, found some form in the recently concluded test series. His century at Bangalore had more of an attacking style for a typical test innings. Given the format, he will be even more attacking. He holds the key for kiwis.

If rain stays away, fans are all set to experience a good match.

*UPDATE: The start of the play between India and New Zealand has been rescheduled to 1900 hrs IST. Earlier it was scheduled to start at 20hrs IST.

However, currently rain is coming down heavily at Vishakapatnam. The ground staffs are working hard to make it possible for a good match. If showers persist, toss will be delayed and in worst case the match would be called off, which no Indian fan would love to hear.

Jus finished my ist t20 practice gameScored 34 of 22 got 2 wickets4 overs felt much more stronger ran and moved beter than the last game

— yuvraj singh (@YUVSTRONG12) August 25, 2012