India have opened the batting with a brand new opening pair of left-handed batters namely Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant in the ongoing second T20I against New Zealand at the Bay Oval.
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Although opening the batting for the first time in international cricket, Kishan and Pant aren’t averse to opening together. For the unversed, they used to open the batting as captain and vice-captain respectively during their U-19 days.
The pair, however, couldn’t emulate their successful partnerships from the past on the back of putting together a 31-ball 36-run partnership. With his struggles in the shortest format persisting in yet another series, Pant became the first Indian batter to dismissed after mis-timing a rash shot off New Zealand spearhead Lockie Ferguson. The 25-year old player walked back to the pavilion after scoring a substandard 6 (13).
With rain expected to play spoilsport in the match, India will have to bat really smartly after being put in to bat first by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. Readers must note that teams batting first have never lost a Mount Maunganui T20I in the past.
Why Virat Kohli is not playing today vs New Zealand?
With the previous Indian selection committee resting multiple senior players for a tour starting right after the T20 World Cup in Australia, neither captain Rohit Sharma nor former captain Virat Kohli are part of both the white-ball squads for this tour.
As far as batter Shubman Gill is concerned, he is among the five players including Sanju Samson, Harshal Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Umran Malik to be warming the bench on Sunday.
ALSO READ: Shubman Gill keen to get timing right to better T20 strike rate
Yet to make his T20I debut, Gill wasn’t really expected to make it to the Playing XI for this match. With wicket-keeper batter Samson also not getting a game, Gill’s chances were further less due to him being below the former in the pecking order.
