Wellington’s Sky Stadium is set to host the 1st T20I of the 3-match T20I series between New Zealand and India on Friday. The Blackcaps will now play a lot of matches in their home conditions, and the nature of Wellington’s track will be looked at with keen interest.
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The Blackcaps lost in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan recently, and they would want to start fresh in this series. Martin Guptill and Trent Boult have been dropped from this series the side wants to give Finn Allen more opportunities, whereas Trent Boult denied the contract with New Zealand.
Team India will be led by Hardik Pandya in the T20Is as quite a few of the players have been rested for this series. Rishabh Pant will be Hardik’s deputy, and it will be interesting to see how the Indian team will use Pant in T20Is from now on. The bowling of the side has been known names.
Sky Stadium Wellington pitch report
Wellington’s Basin Reserve is used to host the red-ball matches, whereas the limited-overs matches are hosted at the Sky Stadium. This is a multi-specialty venue, and it also hosts rugby matches. The dimensions of the stadium will play a big part in this match for both sides.
This is overall a good batting track with an even amount of bounce which will encourage the batters to play their shots. With a faster outfield, the batters will get rewards for their good shot timing. It has been seen that this track has been on the drier side, and the spinners play a role here.
A total of 15 T20Is have been played at this very ground, where 8 of them have been won by the chasing teams with an average 1st innings score of 162 runs. There has been equal competition between batters and bowlers here. The last T20I here was played between New Zealand and Australia in 2021, where New Zealand chased the target of 143 runs.
The mid-wicket boundaries of this stadium are quite big, and the bowlers will definitely use that area. Both captains may opt to chase upon winning the toss here.
