India, the No. 1 ranked T20I team in the world, will face New Zealand in a 3-match T20 series starting Friday 27th January 2023. This, after a 90-run win in the 3rd and final ODI affected a complete clean sweep of the just concluded 3-match ODI series on Tuesday and took the hosts to the top of the men’s ODI rankings as well. An almost identical Kiwi side will look to save face under new captain Mitchell Santner after the disaster of an ODI series knocked them off the top of the ICC rankings.
With the ODI World Cup coming up later this year, T20Is as you would imagine, wouldn’t be a priority at the moment. With that in mind, India for a successive series drop Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul from the squad and continue to rest senior players while investing in young blood in T20Is. This could be with the aim of blooding as many youngsters as possible before next year and the T20 World Cup focus.
The series will be played from January 27th to February 1st in Ranchi, Lucknow and Ahmedabad and sees Hardik Pandya back as captain with Suryakumar Yadav as his deputy.
Prithvi Shaw and Kuldeep Yadav make comebacks to the squad, while an injured Sanju Samson will be replaced by Jitesh Sharma as backup wicketkeeper.
Shaw has been in the form of his life in domestic cricket smashing 379 in a recent Ranji Trophy game and ending the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as one of the leading run-getters.
New Zealand continue to miss the services of ODI and Test captains Kane Williamson and Tim Southee due to personal reasons.
Blair Tickner and Doug Bracewell replace Matt Henry and Adam Milne who miss the series through injury while uncapped left-arm swing bowler Ben Lister receives his maiden New Zealand call-up. All-rounder Henry Shipley who recently made his ODI debut against Pakistan is looking all set for a T20I debut in India
The 15-man squad includes all-rounder Mark Champman, batsmen Henry Nicholls, Finn Allen, Devon Conway and Glenn Phillps, and bowlers Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi.
Head-to-Head
Total – 24 | India – 12 | New Zealand – 9
Schedule
1st T20I – January 27, Friday, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi
2nd T20I – January 29, Sunday, Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
3rd T20I – February 1, Wednesday, Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
All times 01:30 PM GMT / 07:00 PM IST
Squads
India: Hardik Pandya (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Ben Lister, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Rippon, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner
