India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl against New Zealand in the first T20I of the five-match series at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Thursday, October 22. India will look to begin their New Zealand tour on a winning note after a demanding run of fixtures.
The opening match also marks the start of a multi-format tour, with both teams set to face each other in five T20Is, five ODIs and two Test matches.
Hagley Oval in Christchurch offers pleasant playing conditions, with temperatures expected to drop from 25°C to 17°C as the evening progresses. It is New Zealand’s biggest cricket ground, featuring large boundaries of around 77–78 metres, although the pocket near the pavilion is slightly smaller.
The pitch is expected to offer pace and bounce, making it an appealing surface for fast bowlers and potentially encouraging both teams to bowl first.
Captain's At Toss
Shreyas Iyer (India): "Obviously, it’s a quick turnaround. We want to have a fair idea of how the wicket will play, how much bounce it’s going to offer, and based on that, we took this decision.
I think we’ve travelled pretty well. A lot of them took a while to get accustomed to the conditions and also the weather, especially the time difference. But no complaints.
We are a bunch of professionals, and everybody knows that in the dressing room. We’ve got two changes. Nitish Kumar Reddy comes in for Shivam Dube, and Mayank Agarwal comes in for Prince Yadav.”
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand): “We were going to bowl as well. Obviously, it’s a fresh pitch. It looks pretty good, though, so we should get some runs. It’s been good. It’s been pretty busy, but the guys have got back into camp and are obviously really excited for a big series. An all-format tour against India is always a cool one. Obviously, guys have been playing overseas and training, but everyone’s ready to go now.
A couple of guys aren’t here, but I think the depth we have at the moment is really, really good. We’ve got Duffy, KJ and Conway missing out, so a similar make-up to India, with four seamers. Bevon Jacobs has shown what he can do for a period of time now. He’s obviously got the power and is a very good middle-order player. It’s a good series for him to test himself against a very good team on some good wickets.”
India (Playing XI)
Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav
New Zealand (Playing XI)
Finn Allen, Tim Seifert(w), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Adam Milne, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson