Photo by Vipin Pawar / Sportzpics for BCCI
The Eden park in Auckland which hosted the 1st T20I will host the 2nd T20I as well. With not much time in between the 2 games, it will be a difficult task for both the teams to turn up twice in 3 days.
Here we look at the possible changes the two sides can make for the 2nd T20I
A seam bowling all-rounder in place of spin bowling all-rounder for New Zealand
The pitch which had unusual dimensions was a graveyard for the bowlers. There was hardly any help for the bowlers in the wicket. The Kiwi bowlers struggled to contain the Indian batsmen big time. The likes of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer showed no respect to the Kiwi bowlers. Ish Sodhi was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand. He tied the Indian batsmen with his accurate line and length. The other spinner Santner was taken to the cleaners by the Indian batsmen. Though Santner took the important wicket of Rohit Sharma, the other Indian batsmen thrashed him all around the park. The skipper Kane Williamson might have to rethink about 2 spinner strategy and bring in one of their big hitting seam bowling all-rounder Daryl Mitchell for Mitchell Santner.
Navdeep Saini in place of Shardul Thakur for India
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli made the same mistake that he did in the 1st ODI against Australia by playing Thakur ahead of the lively pacer Navdeep Saini. Though the selection of Thakur did not impacted the result of the match, the selection was criticized by fans and experts. The lanky fast bowler from Delhi who can hit-the-deck can trouble the batsmen with his rapid pace and bounce. He will complete the attack that has 2 other deadly bowlers in Bumrah and Shami.
All in all, another run feast is expected on Sunday.