After securing a thumping six-wicket victory in the first T20I, India will look to continue with their winning run and extend the lead when they take on New Zealand in the second match of the ongoing five-match series. Also, with India celebrating Sunday as their 71st Republic Day, Team India should make the occasion a memorable one by producing a clinical performance. Virat Kohli's men have won seven out of their last eight T20Is, and four on the trot. And another win in Auckland would present them a great chance to win the series -- something which they haven't been able to achieve in their previous two attempts in New Zealand.
Advertisement
What happened in the first match?
India claimed the opening fixture, thanks to a solid batting performance while chasing a stiff 204-run target. K.L. Rahul, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer were all among the runs, as the visitors went across the line with an over to spare. Iyer, in particular, was in excellent touch, slamming an unbeaten 58 with a strike rate of 200 and bagged his first Player of the Match award. In fact, batsmen from both sides had a great game on Friday. As many as five fifties were scored in the match and thus on Sunday, it'll be the bowlers who'll play a decisive role at a venue which has produced high-scoring games with short boundaries.
Advertisement
What to expect?
All in all, another high-scoring game will be up for cards on Sunday with bowlers expected to make the difference between the two sides.
The Men in Blue are expected to retain the same XI unless they are forced to make a change. Black Caps, on the other hand, might look to make in some changes, especially to their bowling department which appeared to lack potency in the first game.
For the record, India are unbeaten at Eden Park against New Zealand.
Here's everything you need to know about the match:
Match: India's Tour Of New Zealand 2020, 2nd T20I
Date: January 26 (Sunday)
Time: 12:30 PM IST
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Head-to-head: 12 - New Zealand 8-4 India. In New Zealand, India have won only twice in six matches. New Zealand won the first five meetings between the two sides by 10 runs at Johannesburg in 2007, by seven wickets at Christchurch in 2009, by five wickets at Wellington in 2009, by one run at Bengaluru in 2012, by 47 runs at Nagpur in 2016.
India's first win came at Delhi, by 53 runs in 2017. Kiwis won the next match at Rajkot by 40 runs in the same series, then India won the decider at Thiruvananthapuram by six runs.
In the previous tour, last year, India lost at Wellington by 80 runs, won at Auckland by seven wickets, but lost the decider at Hamilton by four runs.
Advertisement
Live Streaming: Live streaming of the New Zealand vs India, T20I, ODI and Test series will be available online. You will have to download the Hotstar app to watch live streaming. Payment details are available when you subscribe. The match can also be streamed live on the Jio TV app and Airtel TV.
TV Telecast: All the matches of the tour can also be watched LIVE on the following TV channels: Star Sports 1/HD, Star Sports 2/HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi/HD, Star Sports SELECT 1/HD, Star Sports 1 Tamil.
State broadcaster Doordarshan will also telecast the match live in India.
Advertisement
Sky Sports NZ holds the official broadcast rights of the tour and Sky Sports will telecast the matches in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.
You can also follow ball-by-ball live commentary HERE.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan replaced by Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Hamish Bennett, Tom Bruce (for games 4-5), Colin de Grandhomme (for games 1-3), Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
