Although India has won the series 3-0 with two matches remaining, they are still iffy about their opening combinations. They have had two openers pairing up with Abhishek Sharma in their last three outings. Shubman Gill has been forced out, and Sanju Samson regained his spot after nearly a year. However, the Kerala batter’s shortcomings in the first two games have put him under the scanner yet again.

India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I Live Cricket Streaming Online: Watch Here

More than the two dismissals for meagre returns, it is the nature of his failures that will concern India as they commit to slam-bang cricket at the World Cup. Samson’s iffy striking against the hard lengths and extra pace has burned him in Nagpur and Raipur. And with an in-form Ishan Kishan surging with a stellar half-century in the previous game at No. 3, Samson’s response will be a major talking point tonight up in the northeast.

Teams

New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy

India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

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 Why does India’s bowling look like a World Cup-winning unit?

The collectivism of India’s bowlers stood out more than individual verve. None of the seven men Suryakumar Yadav summoned could brag about numbers, none took more than two wickets; none conceded less than Hardik Pandya’s 8.33. Yet, they walked back to the dressing room with a content smile, knowing they restricted the visitors to a total below par on a benign surface with ample dew. Later, the batsman proved the inadequacy of the target, surpassing 209 in merely 15.2 overs. Sandip G explains why India have a superstar T20I bowling unit