Leading 1-0 in the five-match T20I series, India enters the second T20I in Raipur with a reshuffled lineup as Captain Suryakumar Yadav announced two major changes.
Kuldeep Yadav replaces Vice-Captain Axar Patel, who is sidelined with a finger injury sustained during the Nagpur opener.
However, the bigger talking point is the omission of Jasprit Bumrah. Despite missing the ODI series against New Zealand, Bumrah has been rested today in favor of Harshit Rana.
Suryakumar Yadav clarified at the toss that Bumrah is “fit and fine,” and that the decision to bench the pace spearhead after just one match – and with the T20 World Cup only two weeks away – has fueled intense speculation regarding his long-term workload and match readiness.
India Playing XI for IND vs NZ 2nd T20I: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Here’s what Suryakumar Yadav said at the toss:
“We are going to bowl first. There is already little bit of dew out there, we haven’t chased in recent times, so we want to chase. I think it (the pitch) looks good. I think it’s the same wicket they said, which was used for the ODI series. I think we play every game, we try and improve on all the aspects. We never get perfect. We are always learning. But yeah, we look to do the same things again. We try and do the same thing in the bowling department, fielding and batting. We have two changes – Axar is missing out because he got hit in the last game. And Bumrah is resting tonight. So Harshit and Kuldeep come in.”
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.
