India were forced to bench Axar Patel for the second T20I against New Zealand at the SVNS International Stadium in Raipur. The all-rounder suffered a blow on his left hand in the first T20I and was ruled out for the remainder of the match. Even though BCCI didn’t clear the state of the injury, captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that the cricketer is yet to recover and has been replaced by star spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
India have also made an additional change as ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. Harshit Rana replaced him in the playing XI. The goal was to strengthen the lower order batting and for the same, Bumrah arguably was benched. “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,” Suryakumar said after the toss.
India win toss, elect to field
India have won the toss and elected to field first in the second T20I. Explaining the reason, Suryakumar explained that the dew might play a part in the second innings and also noted that the surface looks like a good track to bat on. He also wants to play a better brand of cricket, stating that his team is always learning.
“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,” Suryakumar said.
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy
India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
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