India and New Zealand are all set to have a faceoff with each other in the first T20I at the Eden Park in Auckland. This will be their first overseas tour of the year.  The Men in Blue return to the Land of Long White clouds in less than a year. As one may recall, the Indian team faced a series defeat last year when they visited New Zealand. Both the teams are marred with injuries. Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Tom Latham, Doug Bracewell, Will Young, Adam Milne, Seth Rance are the players injured from both sides. Now, let’s have a look at the players to watch out for. India vs New Zealand 1st T20I.

Kuldeep Yadav

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav had a ball of time the last time he toured New Zealand as he scalped eight wickets in four ODIs. In the shortest format, the left-arm spinner scalped a couple of wickets in one T20I game and played a vital role in the final match of the T20I format.

Hamish Bennett

In the absence of pacers like Trent Boult, Hamish Bennette has been included in the squad. The pacer had put up a show by being the highest wicket-taker in the Super Smash T20 scalping 17 wickets and bowled at an average of 17.17.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was rested in the T20I series against Sri Lanka but his match-winning performance of 119 runs in the third ODI narrates the story. The Indian vice-captain will be itching to carry his form even in the shortest format of the game.

Mohammed Shami 

Pacer Mohammed Shami exhibited his prowess on the Indian track in the third ODI against Australia as he got four wickets. Also in the shortest format of the game, Shami had scalped 11 wickets from eight games.

Talking about the game today, the match will begin at 12.20 PM IST and both the teams will be greeted by a pleasant playing condition at the Eden Park. The fans can log in to LatestLY.com for all the live updates, toss report, vital stats and many other details of the game.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 24, 2020 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).