India make one change
January 29, 2023 18:45
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner has won the toss and elected to bat in the 2nd T20I against India in Lucknow on Sunday.
While the Kiwis field the same team as that from the first T20I, India replace Umran Malik with Yuzvendra Chahal.
Playing XIs:
India: Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan(w), Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner
India will have to raise their game a few notches as the hosts face a must-win situation in the second T20 International against New Zealand, in Lucknow on Sunday.
India were caught in a spin web on the Ranchi pitch as they lost the series opener by 21 runs on Friday.
The loss also highlighted India's bowling profligacy, especially by the pace duo of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik.
If tearaway pacer Malik conceded 16 runs in one over, Arshdeep leaked 27 runs in the 20th over, which put pressure on the India batters while chasing.
That expensive over from the young left-arm quick was the turning point as he was smashed for three sixes and a boundary.
India's batters were off to an inauspicious start with the top-three managing just 15 runs. The hosts ended up scoring 155/9, which would have been a par score to defend on the wicket, as indicated by Washington Sundar after the match.
"150 would've been par and we would've been very happy with it," the India all-rounder said.
Skipper Pandya, however, is unlikely to bring in uncapped pace bowler Mukesh Kumar for the second T20I and will probably back Arshdeep to bounce back.
While Shubman Gill, who has been in red-hot form in the ODIs, has played just four T20Is and is still learning the nuances of the shortest format, the big concern will be the two key batters -- Ishan Kishan and Deepak Hooda.
Occupying the opening spot, Kishan is nowhere near the ominous form he showed while slamming a record-breaking ODI double-century against Bangladesh last December.
Since then, Ishan's scores in the last seven innings in both ODIs and T20Is read 37, 2, 1, 5, 8 not out, 17 and 4.
If one just considers the T20Is, it's been a while since he last scored a fifty -- against South Africa on June 14, 2022.
While India are unlikely to try out newcomer Jitesh Sharma in the role of wicketkeeper-batter in the middle-order on Sunday, time is certainly running out for Hooda and Kishan.
Despite the loss on Friday, there was a huge positive for India in Washington Sundar, who not only bowled a tidy four overs of spin to take two wickets, but also emerged India's topscorer with a 28-ball 50 batting at No. 6.
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