India’s upcoming three-match T20 series against New Zealand, where the team will play under the captaincy of star all-rounder Hardik Pandya, will witness several talented young cricketers get a chance to showcase their skills at the international stage and could pave the way for a new approach in T20Is keeping the next World Cup in 2024 in mind.
Hardik’s leadership style is well known, ever since he led Gujarat Titans to victory in their first season in IPL. The Indian team also has express paceman Umran Malik, who vowed cricket fans with his speed and accuracy in the IPL. The likes of Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill will add more freshness to the squad, which already boasts of solid hands like Suryakumar Yadav, and Rishabh Pant.
Speaking about the upcoming series, captain Pandya sounded positive and was excited about the prospect of several youngsters getting an opportunity to stake claim for a regular place in India’s T20 team.
“Main boys are not here but at the same point of time the talent that is available, the players who are a part of this tour, they have been playing for a good amount of time (1 – 1.5 years). They have had ample chances to express themselves in international cricket and show what they have. Very excited for the new bunch, new guys, new excitement, new energy, so it will be quite exciting,” stand-in captain Pandya said before the start of the series.
One of these commentators is former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who spoke about specialist T20 cricketers being the need of the hour for Indian cricket.
“They will identify specialists. Going forward, that should be the mantra. Identify and make that Indian side into a terrific fielding side and identify roles for these youngsters who can be fearless and play that kind of cricket without any kind of baggage,” Shastri said.
Shastri also didn’t shy away from mentioning that India should take the route of England, current world champions in ODIs and T20Is, and said that the approach should about finding match winners for different formats
“Identifying roles for players, identifying match-winners, and going pretty much on the template of England. They are one team who have really caught the bull by its horns. After the 2015 World Cup, they said we are going to change our resources and identify the best players for different formats. If that meant there are senior players who have to sit out, then so be it,” Shastri added.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is also excited about the upcoming series. “Any opportunity that you get to play against India is always a special one and the teams are looking forward to that,” Williamson said before the start of the series.
As far as fans as concerned there is a lot in store for them in terms of the viewing experience. Prime Video will also offer an English language live one-hour pre-show before each game. The mid-innings break will feature a 15 minute show which will be a recap of the first innings and preview of the second. The live programming also involves a 30 minute post-match presentation and analysis by Prime Video’s stable of cricket experts.
Curating a new viewing experience for live sports, Prime Video will offer customers new features like in-game language selector and “Rapid Recap”. The in-game language selector will allow customers to change language (e.g., English to Hindi) seamlessly without exiting the player. Customers joining a game in progress can catch-up on impactful game highlights using the “Rapid Recap” feature before transitioning to the live stream automatically.
So, the wait for an exciting series between two competitive sides is all but over. Fans should get ready for a roller-coaster ride.
Watch the India tour of New Zealand live and exclusive on Prime Video from Nov 18- Nov 30. The T20Is on 18th, 20th and 22nd November begin 11 am, and ODIs on 25th, 27th and 30th November begin 6 am.
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