Picture Credit: BCCI
India are taking on New Zealand in a crucial T20 World Cup match against New Zealand. A 10-wicket defeat to Pakistan in India's opening World Cup match has made this game all the more important as a winner of this game is likely to join the Men in Green in the semifinal lineup from this group.
This is because even New Zealand had faced a defeat to the same opposition and considering that the teams have easier matches lined up ahead, this game virtually becomes a kind of a quarterfinal. For the all-important match at the Dubai International Stadium, India made as many as two changes to their Playing XI.
Captain Virat Kohli announced at the toss that while Suryakumar Yadav was replaced by Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Kohli also made it clear that SKY's omission was a forced one since he had a back spasm. Later the BCCI also confirmed the same in a statement.
"Suryakumar Yadav complained of back spasms. He has been advised rest by the BCCI Medical Team and has stayed back at the team hotel," stated BCCI in a statement as quoted in an ANI report.
India in a spot of bother in match against New Zealand
Despite the changes, India have not been able to get off to an ideal start in this game. After being asked to bat first, India lost both their openers- Kishan and KL Rahul- inside the powerplay before Rohit Sharma was also dismissed inside the first 10 overs. Even captain Kohli departed in the first ball of the 11th over, which means that India could be staring at another low score in this innings.
However, the match is far from being lost as it looks like a double-paced wicket and with spinning options like Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja in the XI along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, India could still pull a rabbit out of their hands.
For now though, the equation seems to be stacked in favour of the Kiwis who have restricted India to 62/4 in 13 overs with Hardik Pandya and Risbah Pant still out there in the middle.