Preview: Ist T20I: India look for winning start against Kiwis in Nehra's farewell game

India will look to register their first T20 win over NZ

New Delhi, October 31: Ashish Nehra's farewell match will form the subplot as India aim to better their abysmal T20 record against New Zealand in the three-match series starting here on Wednesday (November 1).

The opening match at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be Nehra's last game in competitive cricket and India would look to bid a befitting farewell to the seamer, whose career has been characterised by several injuries and comebacks.

India have so far lost all their matches against New Zealand, the fifth and last one coming at the ICC World T20 in 2016.

For a team that has stormed its way to the top of world cricket with wins over Australia, England and Sri Lanka, this piece of statistic certainly sticks out like a sore thumb.

Having emerged a 2-1 winner in a keenly-contested one-day international series against the same opponents, India's confidence is high and they would look to continue the good work in this slam-bang format.

Fresh from his fluent century in the series-deciding third and final ODI, which made him the fastest to complete 9000 runs, skipper Virat Kohli will be eyeing yet another series victory.

He looked in great touch alongside Rohit Sharma, the game's other centurion, and the two batting stalwarts would eye an encore.

Besides the vice-captain and the captain, Shikhar Dhawan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has a better record against the Kiwis among Indian players, will look to shoulder the batting responsibility.

In bowling, India will look to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for breakthroughs with the new ball as well as in the death overs.

Teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Ashish Nehra (only for first game), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, KL Rahul.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.

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