New Zealand and India continue their T20 series on Sunday when they meet for the second game of the five. Just like the opening match, this one takes place at Eden Park in Auckland with the home side looking to level up the score after dropping the first game.
Just how much the series win will mean to India in the overall picture is open to debate but they could take a huge leap to claiming it if they can come out on top in this game and move two up with three to play.
New Zealand
At the halfway mark of the opening game, New Zealand would have been very happy with their efforts. They might have left a few runs off the board but a score over 200 looked pretty daunting, but it turned out to be a mile short because they couldn’t contain the Indian batting early on. They shouldn’t be destroyed for not being able to do that, few in the world these days can, but it showed what they need to do if they are to level the series.
There were plenty of positives from the first game. They scored 200 and there could well be more to come with Colin de Grandhomme not scoring in that game, while Ish Sodhi looked very good with the ball. The concerns came in the seam department but with the likes of Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson missing, I guess that was always going to be the case. If they can get stuck in early with the ball they’ll be competitive again.
India
It was the opposite for the Indians. At halfway in the opening game they would probably have been a little disappointed with their bowling and fielding effort, but their batsmen got them out of the mire, making a sizeable chase look comfortable and setting down a real marker for the remainder of the tour. They will be looking for a repeat with the bat because they know their bowling is likely to come good at some point.
When you consider jet lag and a heck of a lot of cricket in recent times were all potential negatives for the Indians going into that opening game, it was a really good performance, and if they come on for the run they are entitled to be very tough to stop from here on in. They will remind their bowlers they need to be a little sharper but to be fair theirs isn’t the only bowling attack that has gone round this particular park.
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Team News
New Zealand might look to bring in more firepower with the ball but in truth they have other options in the XI who played the first game which would give them the right to name an unchanged side. Blair Tickner could be vulnerable.
India are also likely to consider a change to their bowling attack. They have been very keen on Navdeep Saini for a while and with Shardul Thakur being expensive in the opening game that looks a pretty automatic swap.
Betting
I took the sixes in the first match on this ground and I’m going to take them again. The line in that game was 14.5 and both sides smoked 10 sixes and yet it has only gone up a couple of sixes to 16.5. There were actually 30 fours in that first game as well and that is a lot on this ground because usually here the common denominator in terms of scoring is one or six even with these two sides not always being the highest scoring around.
When you factor into the equation that in the first match Martin Guptill, Colin de Grandhomme and Rohit Sharma, three of the cleanest hitters on show, could only manage two sixes between them then there is the potential for even more to come in this match. This is a ground where sixes come naturally and where the pitch always plays pretty well and with a fair number of those fours likely to be transferred into sixes I still don’t think this line is high enough.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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