India are going to field a young T20 side again, this time against New Zealand at home. With the cricketing calendar tightly packed, India are doing the right thing by resting some players while allowing the youngsters another shot in national colours. All of these opportunities are important in the World Cup year. One of the big names to benefit, in this regard, in this T20I series is Prithvi Shaw. Shaw has been in a terrific form in domestic cricket. He has been a good player for a long time and has shown his tremendous ability with the bat consistently. His selection is a good reflection on the great talent pool that India possess. They are producing really good players, really fast. Along with Shaw, you have Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan in this series and it is going to be little tricky to fit in all four in the playing XI, in my opinion.

I am tempted to include Shaw in the lineup. I think he deserves a chance if he is picked. I know Shubman Gill has been in the form of his life and it is hard to drop him right now. It is true that sometimes when you have played cricket consistently, a rest is as good as playing. But with Gill, you just want him to carry on playing and for the same reason, I expect him to feature in the XI come Saturday.

Back in 2018, I watched both Gill, Shaw batting in U19 World Cup in New Zealand and my mind takes me back to how good they were at 18, 19 years of age. They have both come a long way to play for India since then. Gill is now enjoying success in all formats and his hard work is returning him with great rewards. Shaw has had his moments in all formats for India before he lost his place and I am sure he will come back strongly. It is a source of great enjoyment to see how they have progressed since those U19 days.

As I had mentioned in my previous article, I would still want to use Ishan Kishan as a floater, even in T20Is. He can come, if needed, at No 3 to try and use as many early overs as possible. The only issue with that is I want Suryakumar Yadav to bat up the order as much as possible. If there is a solid opening partnership and then a wicket falls, I would try and get SKY in as soon as possible. If not, then I can potentially see a scenario where Ishan Kishan comes in and bats in the early overs at No 3 and play his shots.

Very difficult to make place for Gaikwad but I guess he can play if India believe in rotation policy in these 3 games. Talking about these players reminds me again about the amount of talent that India possesses.

Right now, KL Rahul is not available and Sanju Samson is also not there yet this is of international standards. The talent pool is extraordinary. It takes me back to the days when we (England) played against Australia. Their ‘A’ Team was nearly as good as their main team. It is becoming the same now for India with a quality on offer.

Anyway, coming back to this series, Hardik Pandya gets one more opportunity to do well as a leader and grow into the role. Arshdeep Singh is back and I expect him to do well vs New Zealand. He should be played as much as possible in this World Cup year and I am backing him to do as well in ODIs as he has done in T20s.

Don’t count out New Zealand yet

No Kane Williamson, no Tim Southee again. So, this makes Mitchell Santner the captain of the New Zealand squad. Santer has always been productive player, especially, in this format. Would be interesting to see how he leads Black Caps against India in India. That is some challenge.

Getting the balance right isn’t a big challenge in this format of the game for Kiwis. They have got  firepower at the top with Finn Allen. Devon Conway is in amazing form at the moment. Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell have done exceedingly well in the last 2 white-ball series for Black Caps. They have got some in-form players who can cause some problems, particularly to the less-experienced Indian side. That is why I feel it is going to be an exciting series than what many may assume looking at what happened in ODIs. India’s batting was fantastic on flat pitches in ODIs and it was a challenge for the bowlers to bowl on those surfaces. But T20I cricket brings more rewards to the bowlers.

The series also provides a young New Zealand side to get a hang of conditions in India as some of them might travel again for the World Cup.