After a crushing loss at the hands of New Zealand in the first T20I match at Wellington, Team India will look forward to coming better in the second match of the three-match T20I series, to be played at Eden Park in Auckland.
India, who suffered their worst T20I loss ever, an 80-run loss, seemed to be out of sorts as they chose to chase on a batting pitch. New Zealand put up a stiff target of 220 runs and Indian team just couldn’t get going in the chase.
Now the Indian team needs to keep the balance between their experimentation and their will to keep themselves alive in the series, as they look to win the second match at Auckland. Keeping this in mind, Team COC presents the Predicted Team India playing XI for the second T20I.
New Zealand took the Indian quick bowlers to the cleaners with Bhuvneshwar going for 47 runs, Khaleel going for 48 runs and Hardik going for 51 runs in their respective 4 overs. In comparison, Krunal picked 1/37 and Chahal picked 1/35 in their four overs and this showed that spinners were the way to go against New Zealand batsmen.
While the batting failed to get going in the opening T20I, things are bound to change with Rohit and Dhawan aiming to take the Kiwi bowlers on. Rishabh Pant is still struggling to find his feet in the T20I, given that he has taken to playing cheeky shots, rather than his normal game. Pant needs to calm down a bit and though the situation at the time required him to score at a furious pace, he has the ability to do it using normal cricketing shots.
The Indian middle order needs to back their top order up and Indian team management should put a stop to experimentation, given the need of the hour and bring in their trump card of Kuldeep Yadav in the team, preferably for Vijay Shankar, who played a good knock, keeping the balance of the team intact.
Krunal Pandya batted criminally low at no.8 and still showed that he deserved to bat higher up the order, given his capabilities with the bat. Combine his prowess with his brother Hardik’s and Dinesh Karthik’s and you have a dangerous lower middle order. MS Dhoni’s newfound abilities to accumulate should see him bat at no.3 or no.4 in the lineup and have him control the game from there.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed bowled deliveries begging to be hit by the Kiwi openers and they need to get their act together and support the spinners to the core.
COC Predicted India Playing XI for the second T20I:
Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (C), MS Dhoni (WK), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khaleel Ahmed
