T20 World Cup, India vs NZ: Williamson elects to field
India and New Zealand face each other in the 16th Super 12 match of the 2021 T20 World Cup tonight. The match is set to be held in Dubai. Both India and New Zealand suffered respective defeats in their first encounter versus Pakistan. The news from the center is that Kane Williamson has won the toss and elected to field first.
Key details about the match
The match will be held at the Dubai International Stadium (7:30 PM IST). The pitch is well balanced and promises aplenty. Batters need to be calm and play as per their strengths. They will target the powerplay overs. One can watch the match live on the Star Sports Network and stream the same on Disney+ Hotstar.
Here is the head-to-head record
The two teams have met each other on 16 occasions in T20Is. Both teams have won eight matches each. Notably, two games were tied before India won the one-over eliminator. New Zealand have a 100% record versus India in the ICC T20 World Cup. They beat India in both the occasions (2007 and 2016).
Here are the top performers
Tim Southee will have an important job in the powerplay overs. He has claimed 100 T20I wickets. Trent Boult can be highly effective. He can get to 50 T20I scalps (47). With the bat, Martin Guptill (2,956) can get to 3,000 T20I runs. For India, Virat Kohli (3,216 runs) can be the game changer. Bumrah (59 wickets) can contribute significantly.
A look at the two teams
India playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Varun Chakravarthy, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah New Zealand playing XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson(c), James Neesham, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
Two changes for Team India
For India, Surya has got a lower back spasm as Ishan Kishan replaces him in the starting XI. Kohli confirmed that Ishan will bat at the top of the order. On the other hand, Shardul Thakur has replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
