After the home ODI series against New Zealand of Team India, the action has well and truly shifted towards the T20Is. The two teams are now competing in a three-match T20I series with the series opener already underway at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi. Having won the toss, India skipper Hardik Pandya opted to bowl first and while the visiting openers had got off to a pretty good start, Washington Sundar double wicket over helped the Men in Blue make a comeback of sorts.
Sundar struck twice in the 5th over of the match. While the first one of his victims was Finn Alenn who was caught in the deep, the second one was purely the bowler's credit as he not only deceived the new batter Mark Chapmanm with a tossed up delivery but even took a great catch diving to his right off his own bowling to strike twice. The video of his catch has surfaced online.
Take a look:
Meanwhile, captain Hardik had said that the fact that the ODIs were played before T20Is makes it a bit easier for them to adapt.
"Just go out there and play the best cricket we know. It is a young team. We will focus on playing good cricket. Playing the ODIs before T20Is makes it easy to pass on. For a lot of them it is an experience just being in the team," he said at the toss.
"Yuzi, Mukesh, Jitesh and Prithvi miss out," he added to confirm India's Playing XI.
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Mitchell Santner, who is leading the BlackCaps in this series, said that he would have ideally wanted to bowl first as well.
"We were challenged in the ODIs. There is no experience like playing India at home. Would be a challenge for some of the new guys. Looks pretty good. The dew is setting in. Would have been good to bowl first. Putting runs on the board and then defending would be challenging. Tom Latham and Nicholls are gone. Chapman and Sodhi are in," he said at the toss.