India and New Zealand would be hoping for some game time in the second and penultimate T20I in Mount Maunganui on Sunday after the series opener in Wellington was a complete washout.
Rain and wet ground conditions forced the opener on Friday to be abandoned without a ball bowled. The forecast for Sunday also hints at brief spells of showers in the evening, which could cause an interruption or two.
The series is of greater importance for India, particularly for skipper Hardik Pandya, who’s tipped to take over as the country’s regular T20I captain.
Also, how youngsters like Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill and Umran Malik perform in this series would go a long way in determining whether India can bank on them at the next edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024.
From that perspective, another washout or even a rain-curtailed game would only deny India the opportunity to gauge how their team for the future can thrive under pressure and deliver in tough conditions. After all, these curtailed matches don’t quite help in achieving a fair assessment of the players.
Upon their arrival at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Saturday, the Indian contingent was greeted with a traditional ‘powhiri’ welcome, which is a ceremony involving speeches, cultural performances and singing among other conventions. Pandya and his teammates did appear to be in good spirits throughout the programme.
Those moments were indeed refreshing for the Indians, helping them to divert their minds from the on-field stuff.
The weather is certainly not among the controllables, but India must be thinking more about their team combination for Sunday’s game along with the plans and strategies.
Conditions at the Bay Oval do help to post formidable totals with the average score batting first in seven completed T20Is there is around 199. Spinners, too, have fared better compared to the quicks, so India will have to decide whether they should go in with two spinners.
If there are two spinners in the XI, will it be leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who warmed the bench right through the recently-concluded World Cup in Australia, and left-armer Kuldeep Yadav? Or, will off-spinner Washington Sundar get a look-in?
Batting-wise, should wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant be promoted to open? Or should Kishan and Gill be asked to do the job? These are a few aspects the team management has to finalise.
With Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya the two constants in the middle order, one among Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda is likely to be the No.3.