IND vs NZ | 1st T20I: With induction of new coach, captain, India aim at positive start in Jaipur

Indian cricket saw some restructuring especially in the T20 format in the past few weeks. Former India skipper Rahul Dravid was handed the full-time job of the head coach for the side while Rohit Sharma replaced Virat Kohli as the captain.

While Dravid took over the reins from Ravi Shastri whose tenure ended with the conclusion of the T20 World Cup, Rohit on the other side took over the captaincy baton after Kohli had made the announcement to step down from the post after the global event.

Now, Dravid and Rohit both have a job at their hands straight away as India will be hosting New Zealand for a three-match T20I series beginning on Wednesday in Jaipur.

The Men in Blue had a disappointing run in the recently concluded T20 World Cup after they bowed out of the tournament in the group stage itself.

Moreover, the Virat Kohli-led side lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in their group fixtures. New Zealand on the other hand, made it to the final of the tournament but lost to Australia eventually.

The first match of the series will be played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Match Details

Match – India vs New Zealand – 1st T20I

Venue – Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

Time – 07:00 PM IST, 01:30 PM GMT

Where to watch live – Star Sports Network

Pitch Report

The pitch in Jaipur is expected to help the batters throughout the game, so a high scoring encounter might be on the cards. Both the sides have some brutal strikers of the cricket ball and can be lethal on the given day. Nevertheless, if you win the toss, opt to bowl.

Team News

India: Rahul Dravid will begin his duties as India’s head coach with this series against New Zealand while Rohit Sharma will play his first fixture after being appointed as the side’s T20I skipper. Virat Kohli has been rested from the series.

New Zealand: New Zealand’s regular skipper Kane Williamson will miss the T20I series in order to prepare for the upcoming two-match Test series against India. Tim Southee will lead the side in his absence.

"With the opening game of the T20 series on Wednesday evening, followed by games on Friday and Sunday night - the decision was made for Williamson to join the Test specialist group already training in Jaipur as they focus on red-ball preparation," stated a media release.

Probable XI

India: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravi Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Avesh Khan

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Glenn Phillips (WK), Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Tim Southee (C), Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult

Fantasy XI

Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Martin Guptill, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mitchell Santner, Daryl Mitchell, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult (VC)

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Incoming captain Rohit Sharma promises India's 'own template' in T20 cricket

A lot of the blame for India’s failure at the T20 World Cup was levied on their “template” of playing the shortest format of the game and their inability to find the perfect balance in the playing XI. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri have made ways for Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma to take over the reins and turn things around in the T20 cricket for India and Rohit has conceded the men in blue have to get their “template” right while playing T20 cricket. He said players will have to accept failures that come with playing the fearless brand of cricket and that will be an important aspect of their performance in the format. He also said that India don’t have to emulate the templates of other sides but they will make their own way and decide what is best for them to produce results. He also chose to overlook India’s disastrous performance in the T20 World Cup and said that in general, the team have done well in the format regardless of not winning ICC tournaments. “We just need to set the template right, and we have time to do that. India have been good in T20Is but we just haven't won an ICC tournament... I'm not saying we should follow some other team's template, we should set our own template,” Rohit said at the first press conference as India’s full-time captain in T20Is. “I think it's an important aspect of the format, where players have that confidence to take their chances. Sometimes you need to play fearlessly but you may not be successful each time. So we will certainly keep an eye on that aspect.” Rohit also underlined the importance of having a bowling all-rounder to add depth in the side—an aspect of the game they have struggled with in the past, more so after the injury to Hardik Pandya. Although Pandya is more a batsman than a bowler as an all-rounder, the comfort of two to three overs he used to give his captain when he was fit could have meant a lot in India deciding a playing XI in the T20 games. India have brought in Venkatesh Iyer, who is believed to provide them with a like-to-like offering as Hardik Pandya, but Rohit did not pinpoint any player who needs to be developed for a larger role. “I understand the importance of a bowling all-rounder, but we have to groom everyone. We have to focus on being effective as a team, have to keep an eye on everyone. We will see whatever is required to be a successful team in this format,” he said. India and New Zealand are set to play a three-match long T20I series starting tomorrow in Jaipur. India have announced a new leadership group starting this series and a lot of what they are trying to do with their “template” should be visible from the first game against the Blackcaps in Jaipur.

SMAT 2021: Karnataka, Vidarbha, Kerala register quarter-final spots

Vidarbha, Kerala and Karnataka marched ahead in the quarter final stage of the on-going Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. While Vidarbha defeated Maharashtra by 7 wickets, Kerala thumped Himachal Pradesh by 8 wickets and Karnataka clinched a two-wicket win against Saurashtra in a close encounter. Maharashtra vs Vidarbha Batting first, Maharashtra lost an early wicket after Naushad Shaikh was trapped in front of the stumps by Yash Thakur for a golden duck. But opener Yash Nahar and Rahul Tripathi steadied the ship for the side and stitched a stand of 64 runs for the second wicket. Maharashtra then lost Nahar for a 25-ball 29 which certainly broke the shackles and the side lost wickets at regular intervals to score 157/8 in 20 overs despite Tripathi’s 66 off 45. For Vidarbha, Thakur scalped a three-fer for 17 runs in 4 overs. Later, Vidarbha too had a dismal beginning to the chase as they lost Siddhesh Wath on the third delivery of the innings but a fine piece of batting from Atharva Taide and Akshay Wadkar got them back in the game. The two batsmen put 96 runs for the second wicket and also notched up individual fifties during the course. Later, a late surge from Jitesh Sharma anchored the side to a win by 7 wickets with more than two overs to spare. Jitesh struck an unbeaten 28 off 7 deliveries. Himachal Pradesh vs Kerala Kerala rode on some brilliant batting display from Mohammed Azharuddeen and Sanju Samson to chase down a target of 146 runs by 8 wickets in the last over. While Azharuddeen struck 60 off 57 balls, Samson chipped in with a quick-fire and unbeaten 39-ball 52 to see the side home. Earlier, in the day, Himachal Pradesh didn’t really get into the groove and lost wickets in regular succession to get restricted to 145/6 in 20 overs. Opener Raghav Dhawan though scored 65 off 52. Karnataka vs Saurashtra Karnataka had a few hiccups against Saurashtra while chasing a target of 146 but it was brilliance from Abhinav Manohar with the bat who held his nerves and struck an unbeaten 70 off 49 deliveries to take his side over the line. Karnataka batsmen never really got into the groove and kept losing wickets regularly before but Manohar held the fort at one end to help his side clinch a win by 2 wickets on the penultimate delivery. For Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat returned with figures of 4/22 in his 4 overs. Earlier, Saurashtra managed to put 145/7 in 20 overs, courtesy a half-century from Sheldon Jackson. The quarter-final fixtures will now be played on Thursday.

India to host 2026 T20 World Cup, 2031 ODI WC, Pakistan gets hosting rights of 2025 Champions Trophy

In a major announcement by the International Cricket Council, the hosting rights from 2024- 2031 have been made public and India will be hosting two World Cups and a Champions Trophy. While the T20 World Cup of 2026 will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka together, India will host the 2029 Champions Trophy individually and then share the hosting rights for the 2031 ODI World Cup with Bangladesh. Among the other big news is world cricket coming back to Pakistan after a gap of 29 years as the South Asian nation has been handed the right to individually host the Champions trophy for 2025. This would also be the first edition of the Champions Trophy since 2017 which was won by Pakistan itself so as a matter of fact, they would also be the defending Champions. This would be the ninth edition of the Champions Trophy overall. Among other surprising news was the United States of America, Namibia and Scotland, three Associate members of the ICC getting hosting rights of the World Cups. The USA will be the co-host of the 2024 T20 World Cup alongside West Indies, it is also to boost ICC's bid to get Cricket into Olympics which will be bid for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028. Namibia will also co-host a World Cup, but it would be the ODI World Cup of 2027 alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe. By getting Zimbabwe and Namibia to host the T20 World Cup, ICC has given an indication that it is going to move away from its 10 team format for the ODI World Cup which has been in place since the 2019 edition. Scotland will be hosting a world event for the first time in 31 years as it has been chosen as the host for the 2030 edition of the T20 World Cup alongside England, Ireland and Scotland. New Zealand will be getting the hosting rights of a T20 World Cup for the first time when it hosts the 2028 edition of the tournament. Major Tournaments and Hosts 2024 T20 World Cup: USA, West Indies 2025 Champions Trophy: Pakistan 2026 T20 World Cup: India, Sri Lanka 2027 ODI World Cup: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia 2028 T20 World Cup: Australia, NZ 2029 Champions Trophy: India 2030 T20 World Cup: England, Ireland, Scotland 2031 ODI World Cup: India, Bangladesh

Rahul Dravid rules out prioritising T20Is over other formats, different teams for different formats

There have been talks of the need to prioritise the shortest format of the game in the aftermath of India’s early exit from the T20 World Cup and it was expected by some that the new leadership group comprising of Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and KL Rahul will bring about sweeping changes to focus on T20 cricket in order to prepare for the next edition of the world cup schooled only next year. However, Dravid has outrightly rejected the idea of promoting one format over another and instead suggested that Team India will adjust to the realm and challenges of all three formats. He pointed out that all the three formats have their major events scheduled in the next few years and hence choosing one over another can be counterproductive. “No there won't be any prioritising of formats. We have T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup then also World Test Championship,” said Dravid during his first press conference as India’s head coach. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, players have had to endure most of their playing times inside biosecure bubbles and the outgoing coach Ravi Shastri had highlighted that players were “physically and mentally drained”. He had also attributed the team’s poor performance to the fatigue of players and it reignited the debate of putting the mental health of players as an important agenda for the team management. It was suggested by one school of thought that India could opt for a separate bunch of players for each format that will enable players to be free of fatigue. Dravid did not overlook the challenges and accepted the mental health of players as a priority but at the same time ruled out fielding different sides in different formats of the game. “We are not looking at having separate teams. Of course, there are individuals who play only in certain formats. We must look at players' mental health... these are challenging times, especially for those who play every format. I will certainly look at this.” “You have to strike a balance... you cannot neglect the long term future of players and their mental health. You have to focus on winning now but you also have to look at the long term effects. Striking a balance is important... that's my job as a coach.” “Workload management is an important aspect of cricket. We see that in football too. The mental and physical well being of players will be a priority. We need to do a balancing act, have to work towards having players fit for the big tournaments.” “Yes, workload management is important. Players aren't machines. We want all our players fresh for the challenges ahead. It's very simple, we have to monitor every series we play.” Dravid is starting his full time coaching role with the Indian side with Rohit Sharma, who made his international debut under his captaincy way back in the year 2007. Dravid commended the “special talent” Rohit and credited him for maintaining his game for a longstanding career at the top. “I knew from the start that Rohit is a special talent. Never imagined we'd be working in these roles together all these years later... he's a huge credit to the game. Carrying the legacy of Indian and Mumbai cricket isn't easy and he's done that with class,” Dravid praised Rohit. The T20I and Test series against New Zealand is the first of many challenges that Dravid will have to face as the coach of the Indian Team and he is not at all treating the Blackcaps as “underdogs” for their brilliant record against India in the last few years, especially in the ICC events. “New Zealand are a very very good side, make no mistake about it. You don't need me to say that. It's almost become fashionable to call them underdogs but that narrative has changed. They have beaten us in big games but therein lies an opportunity for us,” Dravid said.