During the second T20I of India’s tour of New Zealand 2022 in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has won the toss and chose to bowl.
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“It’s been under covers for a large part and also potentially some weather around. Adam Milne comes in [for Trent Boult]. Great opportunity for him. Other than that we’re unchanged from the last one. Always a great occasion when you get to play against India,” Williamson told Spark Sport at the toss.
Acknowledging that batting first can be a bit tricky with the weather around, India captain Hardik Pandya laid emphasis on assessing and reassessing conditions especially if weather plays a spoilsport during the course of their innings.
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“We still need to assess the conditions and see how the wicket is behaving. If the wicket doesn’t help you and you try playing shots and lose wickets, and it doesn’t rain, you might be in a difficult position. We’ll assess the situation, and if the rain comes, we’ll reassess,” Pandya told Spar Sport at the toss.
Why is Sanju Samson not playing today vs New Zealand?
Playing their first T20I since ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against England in Adelaide last week, India have made a total of six changes to their Playing XI. To make the same easier for readers, it is noteworthy that only Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh are playing from that match.
The likes of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal have received opportunities for this match. The development means that batters Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill, spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowlers Harshal Patel and Umran Malik are warming the bench tonight.
In what is a substantial revamp of the Indian T20I squad for this tour, so many changes were bound to happen. As far as exciting T20 prospects in Samson and Malik not getting a go on Sunday, it has mostly to do with the team management giving chances to other players and that opportunities for this pair aren’t very far from now.
Both under Pandya’s captaincy, Samson and Malik had played their last T20I during the tours of West Indies and England respectively earlier this year. With Pant and Kishan playing in the same XI, the likeliness of Samson making it to the Playing XI was always going to be minimal even at the cost of seeming unfair to a lot of people. Malik, on the contrary, will have to pin down Patel in order to find a spot in the Playing XI in the third T20I.
