India eye another slice of history
LOT TO PLAY FOR At 1-1, Rohit Sharma’s team will look to seal the final match for maiden T20 series win in New Zealand
HAMILTON: elevens will indicate that Chahal has been their preferred shortest format bowler on most occasions.
The bowlers will look to replicate the good show from the last match where they found their rhythm after a pasting in the opener from Tim Seifert.
Krunal Pandya once again punched above his weight with some gritty performances in the two games.
Not considered the most talented player in the set-up, Krunal makes up his with hard work and discipline. His accuracy is one of the biggest positives going into Sunday’s match along with the intelligence of senior seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Khaleel also stuck to his brief in the last game where skipper Rohit Sharma had instructed him to bowl back of the length to avoid being hit for boundaries. There will be a similar plan in place on Sunday also.
AMONG RUNS
Rohit, the stand-in captain, is now the world’s top run-getter in T20 Internationals. He will like to better the 29-ball-50 of the previous match, which can spell doom for the Black Caps.
With Shikhar Dhawan for company, a good opening stand will be half the battle won for the visitors as it has been the case during the last four years.
The middle order has also shown solidity with the experience of MS Dhoni and the exuberance of Rishabh Pant combining well, as was evident in Auckland.
For New Zealand, a better batting effort in the middle overs is what they would be looking for.
Skipper Kane Williamson has endured a quiet limited-overs series by his standards and senior batsman Ross Taylor has also blown hot and cold during the last three weeks.
Among the New Zealand bowlers, Tim Southee was impressive in the first game but pretty ordinary in the second along with Scott Kuggeleijn, who also went for runs.