India will take on New Zealand in the first of five T20Is at Eden Park in Auckland tomorrow.
After having a fantastic home season team India is all set to face New Zealand challenge in New Zealand and this tour is kicking off with a five-match T20I series. This year, the T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October, so from that perspective, it's an important series for both sides and they will make their plans and strategies keeping an eye on this tournament.
India is in search of a good middle-order batsman and a finisher and it's a good opportunity for the likes of Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube. On the other hand, New Zealand is also facing the same issues and they will be hoping that Tom Bruce, Ross Taylor, and Colin de Grandhomme will solve their middle order's issue.
All the major stats and facts ahead of the first T20I between New Zealand and India in Auckland
Head to Head :
T20I Matches - 11
New Zealand won - 8
India won - 3
T20I record at Eden Park, Auckland -
New Zealand - 6 wins, 10 losses and 3 ties in 19 matches
India - 1 win in 1 match
Last 5 T20Is -
New Zealand - L, L, W, W, L
India - W, L, W, W, W
1 - India's only T20I win on New Zealand soil came at Eden Park in Auckland last year. They beat the hosts by 7 wickets.
11 - Ish Sodhi has taken 11 wickets at an average of 16.18 in 7 T20Is against India.
50 - Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi need 1 and 3 more wickets respectively to complete 50 wickets in T20I cricket.
64 - Martin Guptill needs only 64 more runs to become the third batsman after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to achieve the milestone of 2500 T20I runs.
508 - Martin Guptill has scored 508 runs at an average of 46.18 in 12 T20Is with 1 hundred and 4 fifties at Eden Park in Auckland.
1032 - Virat Kohli has scored 1032 runs as captain in T20I cricket and needs 81 more runs to go past MS Dhoni's Indian record of 1112 runs.
6000 - Ross Taylor needs 26 more runs to achieve the milestone of 6000 runs in T20 cricket.
14,000 - Rohit Sharma needs 111 more runs to complete 14,000 runs in international cricket.
