New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner (left) with Indian counterpart Suryakumar Yadav.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bowl in the opening match of the five-match T20 series against India at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
The T20 series marks the return of all-rounder Hardik Pandya and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah after some well-earned rest during the ODI series.
New Zealand, in the past one year, has achieved many firsts, including a Test series whitewash and a first ever bilateral ODI series win in India.
But when it comes to T20Is, India under Suryakumar have been a different beast having won 18 out of 25 games, largely due to Abhishek Sharma's blazing starts and Varun Chakravarthy's bamboozling performances in middle overs of opposition innings.
The Kiwis have handed Kristian Clarke a debut. He will be part of the pace battery, also featuring Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy.
For India, Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav are missing out.
Teams:
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy
New Zealand: Tim Robinson, Devon Conway (w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.