Sooryavanshi returns as India bowl first against New Zealand

Teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi returned to the team as India opted to bowl first in their second T20I against New Zealand at Hagley Oval here on Saturday.

India made two changes to the Playing XI that registered a record 226-run chase against New Zealand in the first T20I at the same venue, with Prince Yadav coming in for Mayank Yadav as the other change.

Sooryavanshi, who had been warming the benches since the Asian Games, returned to the team and will bat at No. 3 instead of his usual opening slot, India captain Shreyas Iyer confirmed at the toss.

With Ishan KishanIshan Kishan ruled out due to a groin strain, Sooryavanshi’s inclusion was always on the cards. “We’re going to bowl first. Yes, absolutely. That’s one of the reasons (on dew being a factor). We have had a little bit of time to recover and catch up on some sleep. Everyone is in decent shape, I would say. Some of the players, including myself, do their training on match day. So, we are in a good place.

“It is important to maintain the aggression and repeat the things we did well in the first game. In addition, we need to be proactive in the field and ensure



we don’t have an extra fielder inside the circle, especially in the last over. Ishan is injured, so Vaibhav comes in for him. Prince comes in for Mayank, which is just a tactical change. Vaibhav is going to bat at number three,” Shreyas said at the toss.

Meanwhile, New Zealand also made a change to their Playing XI, with Jacob Duffy coming in for Adam Milne as they manage their seamers with Test cricket coming up.

“We know we are a good team; even though we were a bit off the ball, we still fought hard and had a great match. Yesterday was just a refresh day. Duffy is in for Milne; that’s the only change, just a bit of rotation for the seamers with a lot of Test cricket coming up,” New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner said.

Playing XIs:

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav