New Delhi: Riding a red-hot, record seven-series streak of ODI wins, India will want to correct a worrying imbalance. Going into Wednesday’s opening T20 game against New Zealand, Virat Kohli’s men go up against a team they have never beaten in this shortest format of the game, something that would not sit easy on their shoulders.
Five for five is what the Kiwis — currently the top-ranked T20 team in the world — have against India and given how close the just-concluded one-day series was, this Kotla match promises to be another edge-of-the-seat affair.
A sub-plot that has almost got lost in the buildup is local boy Ashish Nehra’s swansong. The 38-year-old, survivor of a series of injuries to knee and ankle, may not even get to play this game at a venue he cut his cricketing teeth from almost three decades ago. There is little room for sentiment in the present India setup, as was evident in the brutal ouster of Anil Kumble from his job as head coach not so very long ago, and the focus quite clearly promises to be on setting a one-sided record straight.
Towards that end, India go into the match well equipped. Their array of batsmen appear to be ticking over smoothly with the one misfiring cylinder — Rohit Sharma — finally overcoming the stutters. The pace attack has earned high praise from beaten opponents and the varying spin component has played a critical role in earning breakthroughs.
It all looks good. Except that in New Zealand, Kohli’s army faces opponents who refuse to follow the script. The one-day series that ended with the Green Park thriller in Kanpur on Sunday was the perfect cap for the opener at the Wankhede in Mumbai, where India were swept out of contention despite a healthy score so the home side know they will have to hit the ground running at the Kotla.
What will boost the hosts in the way the bowling responded to the Kiwi charge in Kanpur, chipping away at the chasing team and not letting them get away. Where one bowler took a battering, two others stepped up, and if that pattern is repeated here, Kane Williamson’s side will have their hands full.
With a strong all-round unit at his disposal, Kohli will want to translate personal form into a team result. He has been in stupendous form, and Sharma’s return to runs could not have comne at a better time, particularly with Shikhar Dhawan too in prime run-scoring condition.
New Zealand though, have an equally varied and effective arsenal. The batting does not look at one or two key men, the pace attack is unsparing in line and length.
