India eye a first-ever T20I series win over New Zealand in the second of the ongoing three-match series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium in Rajkot on Saturday, November 4.
"The Men in Blue" are on a high after having won their first-ever T20I match against New Zealand after six failed attempts, in New Delhi on Wednesday, November 1.
While the hype around match was largely due to veteran pacer Ashish Nehra's swansong, Virat Kohli's men were not perturbed and went on to make light work of their opposition.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan added 158 runs for the opening wicket as the visitors paid the price for dropped catches and some poor ground fielding.
Even as Hardik Pandya failed to build on the momentum the openers gave, skipper Kohli made sure the Indian innings finished on a high by smashing three sixes during his 24-run quickfire knock.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal then starred with the ball for India as they made sure New Zealand never had the momentum by picking up regular wickets.
With Rajkot likely to offer a flat track, Indian batsmen will be eager to post a big score and hurt New Zealand's chances of making a comeback in the ongoing series. It will be interesting to see if India would want to play an extra batsman in place of Nehra, who retired from all forms of cricket on Wednesday.
While the race for the extra batting spot will be between Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik, Hyderabad pacer Mohamed Siraj might make his India debut if Kohli opts for more firepower in the bowling attack.
Meanwhile, New Zealand would want their top-order batsmen, especially the likes of Colin Munro and Martin Guptill, to step up and deliver. The latter, who has had a lot of Indian Premier League (IPL) experience, should make use of the batsman-friendly conditions in Rajkot later today.
When is the match and how to watch it live
The second T20I between India and New Zealand will start at 7pm IST, 1:30pm GMT
Live streaming and TV coverage
India: TV: Star Sports. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
New Zealand: Sky Sport 1. Live streaming: Sky GO
UK: TV: Sky Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports.
USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Online.