India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first against New Zealand in the opening T20I of the five-match series at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar set to make his first international appearance since 2022.
After winning the toss, captain Shreyas Iyer said India will bowl first, citing the quick turnaround after the West Indies series and the need to assess the pitch conditions. He highlighted the positives from the batting in the previous series, acknowledged the challenges faced by the bowlers, and confirmed that Nitish Reddy and Mayank Yadav would feature in the playing 11.
“We’ll bowl first. Quick turnaround, got to see how the wicket will play. Pretty well; a lot of them took time to get used to the conditions. Everyone is professional. A lot of positives, especially in the batting. Bowling-wise, it wasn’t easy to bowl. Reddy and Mayank come in,” he said at the toss presentations.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his team would also have opted to bowl first, describing the pitch as fresh. He said the squad was excited for the series against India and praised the team’s depth.
“We were going to bowl. Looks (like) a fresh wicket. Guys are really excited for a big series. It’s cool to play against India. The depth we’ve got is really good. (On Bevon Jacobs) He’s shown what he can do, a lot of power in the middle-order,” he said.
India, under Iyer’s captaincy, are coming off a 2-2 series draw against West Indies in the five-match series at home that saw batters dominate against the bowlers. Meanwhile, New Zealand last played a T20I series back in April this year, where they also drew a three-match series 1-1.
India are welcoming back Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the playing XI after his last appearance for the national side came in 2022. Nearly four years later, the 36-year-old has earned a recall following a string of consistent performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
India vs New Zealand 1st T20I playing 11s:
India playing 11: Sanju Samson(wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav.
New Zealand playing 11: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson.
