Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman made their presence felt with fantastic knocks, enabling New Zealand to post a competitive total.
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Opener Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman smashed half-centuries to help New Zealand post a total of 164 runs for the loss of six wickets in the opening T20I against India. Guptill accumulated 70 runs off 42 deliveries in an innings comprising of three boundaries and four sixes at a strike rate of 166.67. Chapman smashed 63 runs from 50 balls with the knock including six fours and two maximums. The knock came at a strike rate of 126. However, they did not enjoy much support from the rest of the batsmen. Wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Seifert was the next highest run-scorer, accumulating 12 runs from 11 deliveries. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin were the pick of the bowlers for India, accounting for two dismissals. Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj chipped in with a wicket apiece.
“After losing an early one, it was about putting a partnership together after the powerplay. This contributed to a fair team total. It’s nice to get a chance and the guys played well in the World Cup. Glad to get a few out of the middle and just be out there with Guptill. A few balls keeping low and stopping, so it’s a competitive total, and we back our bowling side to do a good job defending this,” said Chapman as quoted by Cricbuzz.
All-rounder Venkatesh Iyer is making his debut in the encounter, on the back of a fantastic performance in the second half of the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
“Everyone who plays cricket aspires to play for the country, so I feel good that I’ve been presented with this opportunity. Feels good to play under Rahul (Dravid) sir, I’m really excited and looking forward to it. As a cricketer you got to be flexible, and I’ll look to capitalise on the role I’ve been given. I’m ready to bat at any position, or bowl whenever I’ve been asked to. It’s wonderful to play in front of the (Indian) crowd, it’s great to have them back,” said Iyer.
Lineups:
New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(c), Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj.
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma opted to field after winning the toss.
“We will bowl first. The wicket looks good, thought behind is to have a score behind us, there was quite a lot of dew while practicing from a couple of days. It’s been good, has been only 2 days, been a quick turnaround, back from Dubai, spent a couple of days at home and back here. But it’ll be good for the team. We have Shreyas Iyer back, Venkatesh is debuting, Bhuvi, Siraj and Chahar are back. We’re playing three seamers and two spinners. We have one eye on the next World Cup, it’s a lot of time ahead, we’ll try our options, some results might not be immediate, but the process will be crucial,” he stated.
