India vs New Zealand 1st T20 – Preview
India vs New Zealand 1st T20 Preview | New Zealand tour of India 2012 | Airtel Series | India vs New Zealand |
India has to play with New Zealand in the First Twenty20 of the two match series at Visakhapatnam on 8th September 2012. After New Zealand’s poor showing on their recent tour to the West Indies and in the two test series against India, anyone could be forgiven for thinking that the result of this game is essentially a foregone conclusion. New Zealand 2-0 in the Test series will take on the visiting side in a two match T20 series, the first match to be played at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
India:
India will walk into the match as clear favourites as the Men-In-Blue have been in good form and are a force in home conditions. Indian batting line-up is one of the most dangerous line-up in the current scenario as all the batsmen are capable of winning a match on their own. From Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina to the Indian skipper MS Dhoni, all know the art of winning and have the experience of playing match winning innings. Indian bowling is the problem area for Dhoni and he will know that better. The first innings of the second Test showed that Indian bowlers could panic when batsmen get into attacking mode. Ross Taylor dominated the Indians and scoring runs at a high pace never looked a problem for him. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni believes that the two T20Is will give the players a chance to get into the groove before the World T20 in Sri Lanka, beginning September 18.
New Zealand:
Going into the next match, New Zealand shouldn’t just roll over however but they will need Brendon McCullum to be at his bludgeoning best at the top of the order. The wicket keeper/batsman was disappointing in the IPL but he can be a match changer if he stays at the crease and doesn’t give his wicket away cheaply as he seems to be doing. Aside from McCullum, Martin Guptill enjoyed a productive One Day series against South Africa earlier in the year and along with Ross Taylor, he is another batsman who can take the game away from the opposition in the space of just a few overs. The visitors do look weak in their bowling attack however and while Vettori’s return should help to keep the run rate down, there looks to be too much emphasis on containment and not enough on penetration which is also needed to win T20 games. Overall, no matter how tempting those Kiwi odds may seem, it is hard to see anything other than an Indian victory in this first game of the series.
Squads for New Zealand vs India 1st T20:
New Zealand Squad:
LRPL Taylor*, DAJ Bracewell, JEC Franklin, MJ Guptill, RM Hira, BB McCullum†, KD Mills, AF Milne, RJ Nicol, JDP Oram, TG Southee, DL Vettori, BJ Watling, KS Williamson
India Squad:
MS Dhoni*†, G Gambhir, R Ashwin, L Balaji, PP Chawla, AB Dinda, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, V Kohli, IK Pathan, SK Raina, V Sehwag, RG Sharma, MK Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh
