India vs New Zealand, 2019: 3 Changes India could make for the 2nd T20I
India was handed a mauling by New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. The visitors succumbed to an eighty run defeat and were completely outplayed in all three departments.
After the high of the ODI series, the Indian team was brought crashing down to earth courtesy a power-packed home display led by Tim Seifert.
While all of New Zealand’s experiments worked a charm, the same could hardly be said about India. The visitors’ decision to play a few batsmen too many completely back-fired as New Zealand capitalised on India’s relatively weakened bowling resources.
Though the Indians are yet to notch a T20I victory in New Zealand, they would hope to put an end to that wretched run if they harbour hopes of returning from the Southern Hemisphere with a spotless record.
Thus, through the course of this article, we would take a look at three changes India could make to emerge victorious at Auckland and keep the series alive.
#3 Play Shubman Gill
The teenager was handed an ODI debut at Hamilton after scoring tons of runs in the domestic circuit. The right-hander though, endured a tough baptism by fire as he could muster only a couple of single-digit scores.
Hence, it wasn’t a surprise when the youngster was overlooked for the first T20I.
However, India must be careful to not dent his confidence so early and must instead provide him with the best possible platform to establish himself. And the 2nd T20I could just be the ideal launch-pad.
In the past, Shubman Gill has batted in the top order for Kolkata Knight Riders and performed admirably.
While Gill’s inclusion could yet end up being a master-stroke, getting him into the team could be a slightly trickier proposition.
It would be a little too harsh to drop either Vijay Shankar or Rishabh Pant after a single game and resting one of the openers for a crunch game might not be a risk India would be willing to take.
Thus, at this juncture, one doesn’t know if the youngster will get his time in the T20I sun at Eden Park. Yet, he certainly is too good an option to ignore completely.