Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The Indian Cricket Team has set a target of 68 runs in 8 overs for New Zealand in the last and deciding match of the incumbent T20I series being played here at the Greenfield International Stadium.
Incessant rains earlier played a spoilsport as the match was reduced to 8 overs per innings. The revised rules said that the Powerplay would be of two overs, and four bowlers could bowl a maximum of two overs.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first, after which the Indian batting order crumbled like a deck of cards.
Kane Williamson, after winning the toss, said, “We will bowl first. Not sure about the surface, it’s an 8-over game, but at the end of the day, the better team will win. It’s a decider, we have to show plenty of intensity with the ball.”
India Skipper Virat Kohli said, “We would have bowled first, looks like a damp wicket, there was no sun and there’s some moisture on the surface. We will have to put up a big score and then restrict them. The crowd has waited patiently and deserve to see a game.”
The T20I series is currently square at 1-1. Team India had won the first game at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium by 53 runs, before the Kiwis equalled the series with a 40-run victory at Rajkot.
The two squads are as follows:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma (vice-capt), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips. (ANI)