- India play New Zealand in a three match T20 series
- Rohit Sharma to captain India
- First T20 starts on Nov 17
India was eliminated from the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates during the playoff stage. New Zealand are still in with a chance as they have made it to the semi-finals and have a stiff test ahead of them when they face tournament favorites England on Nov 10 in Abu Dhabi.
The Kiwis are the current ICC World Test Champions and will be keen to add to their ICC trophy cabined with a T20 World Cup win. If they end up winning, they will face the winners of the second semi-final which features a game between Australia and Pakistan.
Aakash Chopra
Once New Zealand is through with the T20 World Cup, they will pack their bags and head over to India for a three match T20 series. The first T20 is set to start on 17 Nov in Jaipur, the second T20 takes place on 19 Nov in Ranchi and the final T20 will take place at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Nov 21.
If the Kiwis get eliminated in the semi-finals, they should be in India by Nov 12 and have a few days off to prepare for the first T20. If they end up playing the T20 World Cup final, they will have around 3 days before they play their first T20 in India. It’s a busy schedule for New Zealand who played India last in the Super 12 of the T20 World Cup but the extra games will give them a lot of confidence as they play India in India.
The BCCI has confirmed that Rohit Sharma will lead the T20 squad against New Zealand. They are yet to confirm if Sharma is the permanent replacement for Virat Kohli who relinquished the T20 captaincy after the World Cup. The BCCI have named KL Rahul as the vice-captain.
India will also be without Ravi Shastri who decided to move on from the head coach role. Rahul Dravid has taken Shastri’s place and will be responsible for getting the Indian team transitioned through this change in leadership as well as getting India back to their winning ways in T20 cricket.
The India squad for the T20 Series against New Zealand include a number of new faces as the BCCI has decided to rest Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and leave out Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy. The new players in are Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel.
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