India vying for its first T20I win against NZ in Nehra's final international match
Feroz Shah Kotla is all set to bid farewell to the veteran fast bowler Ashish Nehra, who will play his last international match for India in the T20I match against New Zealand on the 1st of November.
Nehra requested the reservation of a whole box in the stadium for his friends and relatives on what will surely be an emotional day. He is not an obvious choice for the playing XI, but it can be assumed that he will bowl, and possibly even bat, since this will be his last match for India.
New Zealand is currently the No. 1-ranked T20I team and will have to win this series to avoid its displacement from the top spot. On the other hand, India, ranked at No. 5, needs a 3-0 win to climb up to the second spot. India has always proved its dominance against New Zealand in all other formats but is yet to win a T20I match against the Kiwis.
The visitors sweated it out very hard in the practice session; they first worked on their fielding skills, did some catching practice, and had some sessions at the net. India had an optional training session, and the big guns like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shikhar Dhawan opted to rest. Players like Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, and Hardik Pandya spent some time on the ground under the head coach Ravi Shastri.
The Black Caps played a T20I at Kotla against England in the World T20I tournament. This will be India’s first T20I match at the venue.
With some records and history on its side, India will be looking for its first victory against the visitors on Wednesday. The Kiwis, after the ODI series loss, will try to keep their T20I winning streak against India undisturbed.
For Nehra, this will be his last match, and he will undoubtedly be yearning to go out on a high and mark this special occasion by aiding the Indian team in its first ever win against New Zealand in this format.
Sqauds:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.