Sooryavanshi set to get in as New Zealand and India prepare for another slugfest

Big picture: It's closer than the record suggests

India's first meeting with New Zealand since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic was a landmark occasion, a group game of the 2021 T20 World Cup, a contest that shone a harsh light on the outdatedness of India's approach to the format. Since then, India have changed unrecognisably, won back-to-back world titles, and built a 13-2 win-loss record against New Zealand.

Thursday's series-opener at Hagley Oval finished as a thriller, but at one point India were threatening to show exactly why they have built this overwhelming head-to-head record, getting to 93 for no loss inside the sixth over of their chase of 226. You would end up with a lot of close contests if you lined these teams up man for man, but Finn Allen apart, New Zealand lack top-order players with the stratospheric ceiling of their India counterparts.

But as New Zealand tend to do, they still made it incredibly difficult for India, despite that start from Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, and despite the disadvantage of dew. They might even have been disappointed not to have come away with a win, and rued a couple of missed chances on the field.

New Zealand's fightback was a reminder of just how close these two teams are at this moment. India are a significantly less formidable force without Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, and with the middle order yet to stabilise following the post-T20-World-Cup captaincy swap. West Indies showed this with a drawn series in India earlier this month. And New Zealand, in their own conditions, will still believe themselves perfectly capable of going one better.

Thursday was a slugfest. Saturday will likely be one too.

Form guide New Zealand LWLLL (last five completed T20Is, most recent first) India WLWLW

In the spotlight: Daryl Mitchell and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

He has been India's scourge in other formats, most notably in ODIs, but Daryl Mitchell can look like an uneasy fit in T20 sides, particularly at No. 3 where he batted on Thursday. He hit his first ball for six, but struggled for fluency thereafter, getting dropped when he was on 16 off 12 and eventually scoring 28 off 19 - a decent innings but perhaps a little out of place in a match where India chased down 226. Mitchell, though, has made a world-class career of proving critics wrong, and how he approaches his task in the rest of this series will make for interesting viewing.

Ishan Kishan has been ruled out of Saturday's game with a groin strain, paving the way for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to return to India's line-up after sitting out the T20Is against West Indies and the series-opener on Thursday. It's a measure of his absurd level of ability that he has averaged 30.75 and struck at 186.36 while only having shown his ceiling fleetingly over eight T20Is.

Team news: Samson likely to move to No. 3

If Sooryavanshi comes in for Kishan as expected, he will likely open with Abhishek, with Samson moving down to No. 3. This has generally been India's set-up when this combination has played together, but it could cause one tactical issue, allowing New Zealand to use the offspin of Michael Bracewell or Glenn Phillips early in the powerplay. This match-up has troubled India in the past, most notably in the first half of the T20 World Cup earlier this year. The rest of India's line-up should stay the same, with Axar Patel in a floating role should the need arise for him to be promoted to take on spin in the middle overs.

India (probable): 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 3 Sanju Samson (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mayank Yadav

New Zealand posted 225 in the first T20I and did very well to stretch the game into the final over despite India's blistering start, and despite the dew that made batting easier in the chase. There shouldn't be any need for unforced changes in their XI so early in the series.

New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 3 Daryl Mitchell, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Bevon Jacobs, 6 Michael Bracewell, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Adam Milne, 11 Lockie Ferguson

Pitch and conditions

Dew is likely to play a significant role on Saturday and the rest of the series too, given the 8pm starts. Expect the toss-winning captain to keep choosing to bowl. One bit of relief for the team batting first could lie in the fact that Saturday's game will be played on the same pitch as Thursday's, and could have some wear and tear. A clear, sunny day is forecast for Christchurch, but temperatures are likely to drop into the early teens (Celsius) by the time the match begins.

Stats and trivia: India on cusp of 200 T20I wins

The win in Thursday's series-opener was India's 199th in T20Is. They have more wins than any other team in the format, and their win-loss ratio of 2.397 is the best of all Full Member teams, with Afghanistan a distant second at 1.523. Arshdeep Singh (146) and Mitchell Santner (144) are nearing the 150-wicket mark in T20Is. The first T20I was Arshdeep's 100th match in the format. Mitchell needs 93 runs to become the seventh New Zealand batter to reach 2000 in T20Is.