Christchurch: Suresh Raina's unbeaten 63 off 41 balls pushed India to 162-8 after New Zealand chose to field in the opening Twenty20 game on Thursday.
Virender Sehwag got India off to a blazing start but a middle order collapse meant the tourists faced the danger of getting bowled out within the stipulated 20 overs. But Harbhajan Singh gave Raina solid support to guide India to a respectable total.
Virender Sehwag got India off to a blazing start but a middle order collapse meant the tourists faced the danger of getting bowled out within the stipulated 20 overs. But Harbhajan Singh gave Raina solid support to guide India to a respectable total.
Harbhajan returned to the Indian side, replacing all rounder Ravinder Jadeja.
The hosts are without the services of Kyle Mills but Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor back in the side.
India will worry more about the fickle Kiwi weather than the composition and strength of the hosts.
More than the Black Caps' resilience and home advantage, the cold-windy factor may ruffle Mahendra Singh Dhoni's all-conquering legion.
Given their streak of success in this format and the plethora of talent they have in their ranks, India start as hot favorites in the two-match series.
Teams:
India: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (WK and Capt), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.
New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (WK, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori(Capt), Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Ewen Thompson, Iain O'Brien.
Soruce:www.cricketnext.com
No comments:
Post a Comment