Pacer Ashish Nehra will appear in his last international game on his home ground when India face New Zealand in the 1st T20 game at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi.
The game will start at 7 PM IST on Wednesday, November 1, 2017.
Live updates:
New Zealand wins the toss and opts to field first.
TV telecast and online streaming details
- Australia: Channel 9
- India: DD National and Star Sports.
- New Zealand: Sky Sports
- United Kingdom: Sky Sports
- USA: ESPN3 and Willow TV
- Pakistan: Ten Sports
- South/ Central America: ESPN
- South Africa: SuperSport
- Canada: SportsNet and WillowTV
- Netherlands: Fox Sports
The online stream is available on Hotstar.com starting 6:30 PM IST.
Willow TV will be streaming the match for viewers in the US.
— PanAsiaBiz (@panasiabiz) November 1, 2017
Team News
The Kiwi's forced a big upset when they defeated the Men in Blue in the first ODI, but lost the 3-ODI series by 2-1. The New Zealand players are unpredictable in the shortest format of the game, and the stats prove that they can win this series if they play to their potential. India is yet to win a Twenty20 match against New Zealand while the Kiwis have won five of their six T20 games that they have played in India.
IND XI: RG Sharma, S Dhawan, V Kohli, S Iyer, MS Dhoni, H Pandya, A Patel, B Kumar, A Nehra, Y Chahal, J Bumrah
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 1, 2017
With no MS Dhoni in the Indian side, it is up to the youngsters to play a solid role and steer the team to a win.
If Hardik Pandya, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shikar Dhavan can play to their potential, India can post a daunting total if they get a chance to bat first. It is a matter of concern for India as the visitors chased the massive score of 337 in the third ODI and came very close to a win. Thier bowlers need to contain the visitors if they have to win the series by 3-0 which is a daunting task, considering the form of the Kiwi players.
NZ XI: M Guptill, C Munro, K Williamson, T Bruce, T Latham, H Nicholls, C de Grandhomme, M Santner, T Southee, T Boult, I Sodhi
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 1, 2017
Indian skipper Virat Kohli would not want to make any changes to his line-up today. Nehra could be the only change as it is going to be the last match of his career.
Pitch and weather report
The Kotla track has always been sluggish, and the runs are difficult to score, but in the recent IPL, the average score per innings shot to 184 runs from 146. So the pitch is expected to assist the batsman today, and a high scoring game is on the cards. There is no chance of rain in Delhi today.
As he gets ready to take his final run-up in cricket, relive the 18 years of Ashish Nehra now: https://t.co/cu5n6Pi2GT#INDvNZonHotstar pic.twitter.com/gOrVfpLKTL
— Hotstar (@hotstartweets) October 31, 2017
The visitors had a good practice session this morning along with their coach, the fact is that this is the only venue in India that they have not won a T20 match.
New Zealand, the current No 1 Twenty20 side in the world, needs a series win to remain in the top spot, while India which is on the 5th spot needs a 3-0 win to climb to No 2.
