India begin their tour of New Zealand on Friday when the two nations meet in the first of five T20 internationals as the preparation for the World T20 later in the year continues for both teams. Eden Park in Auckland hosts this opening match.
India may well be out for a little bit of revenge on this tour as it was New Zealand who knocked them out of the World Cup last year. New Zealand are strong in their own conditions while India are in decent form so this should be a cracking contest.
New Zealand
New Zealand generally have a decent record in this format of the game but they have lost four of their last six matches and they will need that slump not to develop into anything lengthier than it already is with the World T20 less than nine months from getting going. To be fair to the Kiwis, they have chosen to look at some squad members in some of those matches but you would think the time for that is beginning to end now.
I always think New Zealand have an issue with playing too many all-rounders. They are not the only ones who fall into that trap but it is a concern because if their genuine batsmen fail or their out and out bowlers don’t come up with the goods then they are reliant on bits and pieces players coming up with the goods which doesn’t always work. It will be interesting to see if they can find some specialists between now and the tournament.
India
The Indians have had a very productive time of it on home soil in recent times but this could be their toughest test for a while given that they face a side who are very good in their own conditions, on pitches which are a little bit alien to Virat Kohli and his men. That said though, they couldn’t be in better form making their way down to New Zealand and quite often in sport there can be no substitute for winning.
India are another side who never know whether to stick or twist when it comes to playing all-rounders or not and as a result they can never seem to find the right man to play as a finisher in this format of the game. The other thing to watch out for with India here is how they go in the conditions. It was only five days ago they were completing an ODI series against Australia in India and now they are here competing in this one.
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Team News
The big news for New Zealand is that they are missing some of their best bowlers for this match as Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson both miss out through injury. Hamish Bennett is set to get a chance to stake his claim for a place in Australia later in the year.
India will be without Shikhar Dhawan who has been ruled out of the tour with injury. KL Rahul will open alongside Rohit Sharma and then it all comes down to who India want to go in with as their bowling options. Washington Sundar is set to play.
Betting
My gut feeling is that India are a little short here given that they have had no real time to prepare having only finished their series with Australia back home a few days ago. That said though, I would have wanted New Zealand to have had Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson available if I was going to take them and they are not around. That makes me swerve the match outcome, which probably isn’t the worst thing in the world on this ground anyway, and take one from the side markets.
That comes in the form of the sixes, predictably given how regularly they arrive at Eden Park. We all know the dimensions of the ground by now. It is tiny straight down the ground and in truth it isn’t a lot bigger square of the wicket either, certainly not big enough to stop sixes being hit in that direction at least. The line for this match is 14.5 which normally would be fair enough because these aren’t the two biggest hitting teams in the world but on this ground I’m happy to play the over still.
Tips
WON – Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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