India have barely unzipped their suitcases this month. The Asian Games assignment in Japan ended on October 3; three days later they were in Lucknow for a five-match series that ran through Ranchi, Indore and Hyderabad before closing in the Bengaluru rain late on October 17. Four days on, they start again in Christchurch, with the jet lag surely travelling with them.
New Zealand is a tricky tour at the best of times. India come here less often than they go to England or Australia, and a turnaround this short only sharpens the challenge. For Shreyas Iyer, it may feel familiar. He spoke about acclimatisation in his pre-series press conference in Christchurch, and with reason: his tenure began with India out of rhythm in Ireland, where they lost 0-2, before England beat them too.
It is an occupational hazard of the modern Indian cricketer, and there’s a good chance that conditions won’t meet them halfway either. White-ball cricket may have standardized conditions, but early-season New Zealand can still offer a different challenge. The last 200 in this country came nine T20Is ago, a world away from the kind of cricket India have been involved at home.
When these sides last met, in the T20 World Cup final in Ahmedabad in March, India piled up 255. Much has changed since, not least Iyer’s elevation to the captaincy. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi debuted in Manchester at 15 but has struggled for game time behind World Cup-winning openers. The bowling, meanwhile, has kept reaching for experience, culminating in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s recall after two excellent IPL seasons with RCB.
But two lynchpins remain missing. Jasprit Bumrah has been rested with the Test series in mind, and Hardik Pandya hasn’t played international cricket since that night in Ahmedabad. Finding the right balance is India’s first puzzle in Christchurch, and they may have to solve it before their body clocks catch up.
Varun Chakaravarthy returns after another spell on the sidelines with injury, though fitting him into the XI could be tricky if India opt for three frontline seamers in a season opener. Nman Dhir wax the find of the series against West Indies, but he may be the one to make way if India go with two seam-bowling all-rounders in Nitish Reddy and Shivam Dube.
Without Mark Chapman and Rachin Ravindra, the hosts have a top-three spot for Devon Conway. They have as many as six seamers in the squad to pick from, with Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell offering part-time spin in a fairly stacked bowling attack.
India Probable XI: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav/Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh
New Zealand Probable XI: Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (wk), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson
[Cricbuzz]