India vs New Zealand: ‘They’re the No. 1 team in the world but...’ - Ross Taylor on T20I series against Virat Kohli and Co
IND vs NZ: The two teams are scheduled to play five matches with the curtain-raiser set to be played at Eden Park in Auckland. After the conclusion of T20I series, New Zealand and India will feature in three ODIs and two Tests as well.
Despite being thrashed by Australia recently, New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor is confident of team’s chances in the upcoming T20I series against India starting Friday. The two teams are scheduled to play five matches with the curtain-raiser set to be played at Eden Park in Auckland. After the conclusion of T20I series, New Zealand and India will feature in three ODIs and two Tests as well.
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Ahead of the blockbuster T20I series, Taylor stated their familiarisation with the conditions will hand their the advantage over the number one ranked team in the world.
“We were completely outplayed in all facets of the game throughout the whole series (against Australia), but now we’re back on home soil and India will be a totally different opposition,” Taylor was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.
“They’re the No 1 team in the world, but we’re obviously in conditions that we know, so let’s get through the white-ball phase first before we get on to talking about that.”
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Taylor also spoke regarding the rise of T20I cricket in the last few years. However, he mentioned the need to keep all three formats in tact and not give importance to one particular format.
“Not a lot of people knew what to expect in the first World Cup in South Africa in 2007, but it’s grown a lot. Obviously the IPL came along not so long after. Quite often you used to play one, maybe two games, now we’ve got a five-match series. The game’s evolved and the shots that the men and the women are playing make it exciting for people to come along and watch,” Taylor said.
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“There’s been a lot of talk in recent times about (the future) of Test cricket and one-day cricket and T20. Hopefully there’s room for all three and T20 for the next five matches anyway will be exciting and the New Zealand public will be looking forward to a good series.”
New Zealand T20I squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Hamish Bennett, Tom Bruce (games 4-5), Colin de Grandhomme (games 1-3), Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Blair Tickner, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, 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
