T20 World Cup: India Look to Change Their Fortunes Against New Zealand in a Likely Do or Die Clash | Head to Head

After a crushing defeat against Pakistan last Sunday, India will take on New Zealand today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium which by all means can turn out to be a do or die clash between both teams in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2021 held in UAE and Oman.

New Delhi: After a crushing defeat against Pakistan last Sunday, India will take on New Zealand today at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium which by all means can turn out to be a do or die clash between both teams in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2021 held in UAE and Oman.

With both teams losing against Pakistan in their opening encounter, the winner of this match will have an advantage in terms of qualifying to the semi-finals as the rest of the fixtures for both sides will include playing against the minnows and barring Afghanistan, the other two teams are not likely to pose any serious threat to India or New Zealand.

Head to Head, India vs New Zealand in T20Is and World Cups

India’s record against New Zealand has not been great in T20 World Cups. Having played against each other on 17 occasions, both the teams have won eight times a piece with one ending as no result. But at the T20 World Cup India have lost both their matches against New Zealand. India have played New Zealand in the 2007 T20 World Cup and in 2016 T20 World Cup.

Predicted XI for India vs New Zealand

While the rest of the side remains the same, two changes are likely to take place. Ishan Kishan, who is in top form, could make the playing 11. The young left-hander may be picked in place of Hardik Pandya, who picked up an injury while batting during the Pakistan game. After scans, he has been declared fit, but given the fact that he does not chip in with the ball it would be difficult to fit in the all-rounder.

Another change that is likely is that Bhuvneshwar Kumar gets dropped and in-form Shardul Thakur walks in. Thakur has been impressive in recent times. Bhuvi bowled three overs where he conceded 25 runs at an economy rate of 8.30. He also didn’t bowl well in the warm-up games and only picked six wickets in IPL 2021.

On the other hand, Shardul Thakur took 21 wickets to his name. Moreover, Shardul can bat well. The Indian selectors should bring Shardul Thakur in the next game against the Kiwis.

India’s Predicted XI vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (C), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.