India vs New Zealand: Hosts Aiming to Make Most in World T20 2016

By: Drcricket7 Staff

At a professional level, it all began in England. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was looking to boost game’s popularity in response to the dwindling crowd and reduced sponsorship.

Eventually, T20 cricket was born on June 13, 2003 when the first match was played between the English Counties . Thereafter, the popularity of the format became a sensation and the rest is history.

India, which took almost three years to say yes to the format finally became “the home of T20” in terms of popularity and sponsorship. It’s more than a billion dollar industry and when the stage is set for the first World T20 Championship in India, the tournament is got to be big.

And it’s really big, It’s a big tournament for India as well. Come Tuesday, they lock horns against New Zealand in the first game of the World T20 at Jamtha in Nagpur.

There isn’t any iota of doubt that the hosts are one of the favourites to win the trophy. Not just because MS Dhoni and his men are playing the tournament at home. It’s because they have been displayed fearless brand of cricket in recent days.

India could do all that because they have the right mix of youth and experience. The all-round ability of the team is another very strong point, which has been the recipe of success in last three World Cup wins that India won. (The 1983 World Cup victory in England, the 2007 inaugural World T20 win in South Africa and the 2011 World Cup win at home).

Contrarily, not many had cast their votes in anticipation of India’s strong performance in the World T20 after they lost quite a few number of ODI series at home and away from the country since the team lost the 2015 World Cup semifinal match to Australia.

The pundits started speculating on how India could go nowhere when the World T20 would begin at home. Right at that juncture early this year, the establishment took some bold decisions and recalled previous World Cup hero like Yuvraj Singh and country’s best death bowler in last decade Ashish Nehra and also inducted fresh blood like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya in the playing XI that changed the overall fortune of the team.

The rest of the gang —- Rohit Sharma, Shekhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindran Jadeja and Dhoni — too joined hands to form a lethal combination.

This is right now the first XI of the Indian team which is going to fight it our against the New Zealand. This is the XI which would be looking to register their first T20 win against New Zealand.

Can they start their World T20 campaign with a bang? Wait till late Tuesday evening to know the answer!