New Zealand end their tour of India with three T20 matches, the first of which takes place in Delhi on Wednesday when the series gets underway. As with the ODIs there is a significant importance on this first match as whoever wins it will have control of the series.
India
Despite the enormous success of the Indian Premier League this is the weakest format of the game for them in the international sphere. I’m sure that is something they will be looking to put right over the next three matches and period of time leading into the next T20 World Cup. If they are to do that a change of personnel could be needed.
I say that because historically India have played largely their ODI team in their T20 matches but they can be found wanting for power and batting depth, both of which are very important in the modern shortest format of the game. They also need extra bowling options too because invariably someone will go around the park. That’s the nature of the beast.
New Zealand
That is something New Zealand identified a while back. They have regularly filled their side with all-rounders and they have benefitted accordingly. This is not a format for five men to bowl four overs very often. You often need six, seven or even eight bowling options and they regularly have that which has assisted them.
The other thing which that does is it gives them the significant batting depth to be competitive against anyone in this format. It also means that they can win matches when they bat first, and win them when they bat second which is not something everybody in the international game can say these days.
Team News
Ashish Nehra will play his final international in this match. He could feature in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who got carted in the final ODI at the weekend. Shreyas Iyer is pushing for a start on his home IPL track.
New Zealand will need to decide whether his heroics in the ODIs have meant Tom Latham deserves to keep his spot in the T20 side. Ish Sodhi is likely to come in as New Zealand employ extra spinners in this format.
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Betting
This doesn’t look the easiest match to bet on for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is the first match in the series and we don’t know how each side will adjust to it and the other reason is because this Delhi ground can play differently game by game.
That said in this format in particular I think India’s best chance of winning is to play on flat decks like they do in the Indian Premier League. We saw here in particular in the last season that the pitches can play well and the boundaries are perfectly accessible so the best way to play the game could be to jump on the over 322.5 total runs line.
Tips
WON – Back Over 322.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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