When these two countries face off each other, the majority of the fans from India do not worry too much about the outcome, as most of us pick our second favorite team as the Kiwis aka Black Caps.
Though India is riding on an unbelievable form by winning 10/11 T20 matches including a whitewash against the mighty Australia in Australia, their record against New Zealand so far is 0-6. Yes, you’ve read it right. India is yet to register a win against the New Zealand in the shortest format. Lets see the strength and weaknesses of both the teams.
Brendon McCullum retiring right before the World Cup is a huge setback as he ais a player capable of winning the matches for the team, hands down. Given his experience in the Indian conditions courtesy IPL, he will be badly missed by the players, management and also the fans. Having said that, Martin Guptill, who was unsold in the recently concluded IPL auction is on a form of his life as he has been mercilessly taking on any given attack in the last year and a half. His form will be crucial at the top along with Colin Munro.
The ever dependable classy Kane Williamson, crowd’s favorite Ross Taylor, and the big hitter Corey Anderson power the middle order. Grant Elliot and Luke Ronchi are more than enough to give headache to the opposition in the lower middle order. The black caps do possess a formidable pace attack with the likes’ of Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, and Trent Boult.
The only visible weakness in the New Zealand line up would be the lack of world class tweakers and their ability to counter Ashwin’s spell.
On paper, India has ticked all the boxes. They have an elite opening pair in the form of Dhawan and Rohit, and Virat Kohli is yet to find a challenge in this year. Raina, Yuvraj, and Dhoni will take care of the middle order and the arrival of Pandya makes things easy for the captain to juggle around with his batting line-up. Having said that, Pandya’s inability to see off quality pace bowling is still a worry. Jadeja, who was supposed to be an all-rounder, is yet to have a go with the bat, this year. If the top order fails like it did against Pakistan, then this middle order will have a mountain to climb.
Adding to these, we are yet to field a quality third seamer on the side. If Shami plays ahead of Nehra, then it would be interesting to see, whether Dhoni goes with Pandya/Harbajan. It all might come down to the nature of the pitch, but going with five regular bowlers who could raise their hands to deliver at any point in time is still a worry.
Given the number of left handers in the NZL side, Harbhajan might be included in the 11, but in place of whom will be the tricky question to answer.
So, at the end, it will come to the traditional way of battling. The classic case of Indian spinners against the big hitting New Zealander’s and given the shortcomings of Indian batsmen against the left arm fast bowlers.
The battles to look out for
Virat Kohli vs Kane Williamson – Since the NZL home matches aren’t available for Indian audience’ many wouldn’t know the brilliance of this short man. Both the players boast off similar records and it will be exciting to watch these two guys outperform each other.
Rohit vs Guptill – Two of the most prolific right hand top order players at the moment. Both would take some time to settle and once they find their feet, then it will be impossible to stop them.
Luke Ronchi vs MSD – This Wicket Keeper-Batsman battle is an interesting one as MSD does not have anyone to match him literally with his hitting abilities in the recent times. But Ronchi does pack a punch with his unorthodox style of play.
Entire Indian batsman v Left arm bowlers – Facing left arm pacers for the Indian batsmen is an area of improvement for Indian batsmen. No one averages more than 25 in the top 6 except Dhoni. Indians did go down to Mustafizur Rahman and Mohd Aamir quite cheaply. It will be playing at the back of their mind for sure.
New Zealand vs Ashwin – It is going to be a one man army from the Indian side to restrict the big hitters from NZL. This Right arm off spinner's four overs are going to be precious material for the captain MSD as his job will decide the outcome of the match.Post your views in the comment
Winning prediction: India 55% - NZL 45%
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