New Zealand vs India 2020: 1st T20I, Auckland – Match Prediction

New Zealand vs India 2020: 1st T20I, Auckland – Match Prediction; After a brilliant series victory against Australia, now, the Indian National Cricket Team led by Virat Kohli set to lock horns with New Zealand. The first match is scheduled to play at Auckland on January 24th. With short boundaries on offer, batsmen of both teams would be raring to go to put fans on edge of their seats.

India have gone in with a pretty similar squad which took on West Indies at home. The team is coming off a 2-1 ODI victory against a strong Australian side and will be high on confidence.  In the T20I series in New Zealand last year (February 2019), the Indian side had lost 2-1, and for Kohli’s men, the main challenge is to overturn those results this year.

Virat Kohli-led side is in fine form:

This time around, the major positive for the Men in Blue is their spectacular T20I run, having not lost a single T20I series since the conclusion of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Interestingly, India’s only T20I win against the Kiwis (by seven wickets) in last year’s series came at the same venue as the one hosting tomorrow’s game.

A cause for concern for India this time around will be a string of injuries sustained by their players lately — while all-rounder Hardik Pandya remains out of action, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar recently underwent a sports hernia surgery, and opener Shikhar Dhawan has suffered a shoulder injury.

On the alternate side, the Kiwis have had an average run in the shortest format with four wins and four losses in eight T20I games played after the ICC World Cup 19.

Injuries have been a problem for New Zealand, too. But the good news for them will be the return of their regular captain Kane Williamson. They have also recalled right-arm pacer Hamish Bennett after two years, even as regular pacemen Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson recover from their injuries.

New Zealand vs India 2020: 1st T20I, Auckland – Match Prediction

Considering the current form, the Indian National Cricket Team led by Virat Kohli will enter the game as favourites to win. All the players are in fine form to deliver goods in the middle. In the last ODI series between the two teams, Indian spinners were their trump card and affected multiple Kiwi batting collapses.

The team would expect their tweakers to rise to the occasion once again. In the absence of many of their leading men, New Zealand would look towards their senior players Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and Tim Southee to take the onus. Though both sides look pretty strong on the paper, India will be the favourites to win the game.

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