Kamal Ghorui
In and out of the playing XI through no fault of his own, Samson is now set for an extended run in the side ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup. After a soft dismissal in the series opener, the wicketkeeper-batter will be eager to showcase the wide range of shots that has helped him score three hundreds in the shortest format.
Kishan is another batter under pressure to justify the team management’s faith. A surprise inclusion in the World Cup squad, the left-hander was preferred over Shreyas Iyer in Nagpur on Wednesday night. He looked fluent during his brief stay before being caught at cover. With batting depth extending till No. 8, most Indian batters have adopted an all-out attacking approach, and Kishan is expected to continue with that fearless style, hoping it delivers results.
Attention has also been on captain Suryakumar Yadav’s form ahead of the ICC event. While he did not produce a major score, his 32 off 22 balls would have boosted his confidence.
Despite a few individual areas of improvement emerging from an emphatic win in the opening T20I, India’s overall performance sent ominous signals to rivals, with the defending champions shaping up strongly for the World Cup.
If India are to become the first team to successfully defend the T20 World Cup title, Abhishek Sharma will need to continue his explosive starts at the top of the order, as he did on Wednesday night. The left-hander appears to be in the form of his life, displaying a rare ability to clear the boundary with remarkable consistency.
In the lower order, Rinku Singh’s return to the side and his immediate impact was another major positive. Even without Kuldeep Yadav, India’s bowling attack looks well balanced. If Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya continue to strike in the powerplay, Jasprit Bumrah can be held back for three overs after the initial phase, providing India with an extra weapon through the middle overs.
The massive total in Nagpur also helped India negate the dew factor.
“The way we batted, even after when we were put under pressure in the powerplay, we were 25-2, and then we took the game till the 15th over, and then we never stopped, all the batters I think played their role really well and I think that was a big plus point,” said Suryakumar after the win.
Dew is expected again here, and no total can be considered safe, as South Africa demonstrated last month by comfortably chasing down 359 against India in an ODI.
New Zealand are aware they fell short with the ball in the first match, but as a side known for learning and adapting quickly, the Black Caps will back themselves to bounce back and level the series. They may, however, have concerns over Devon Conway’s recent dismissals, having been caught in the slip cordon off away-moving deliveries.
“We were put under pressure with the ball throughout the innings. And I think, you know, there’s no real, you know, try and squeeze a couple of dots moments with this team, you’ve just got to be on from ball one to win it,” said New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner.
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana.
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (captain), Devon Conway, Bevon Jacobs, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tim Robinson, Jimmy Neesham, Ish Sodi, Zak Foulkes, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy.
