Spotlight on Ashish Nehra, India look to turn tables in T20s vs NZ

Ashish Nehra running into bowl one last time at a place where it all began will form the sub plot as India aim to better their abysmal T20 record against New Zealand in the threematch series starting here tomorrowThe opening match at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be Nehras last game in competitive cricket and India would look to bid a befitting farewell to the seamer whose career has been characterised by many injuries and many comebacksIndian cricketer Ashish Nehra looks on during a practice session ahead of their first T20 cricket match against New Zealand Pic AFPIt is appropriate that the 38yearold will be hanging up his boots in front of his home crowd and nothing would be sweeter than an Indian win against a team that has been their Achilles heel in this format India have so far lost all their matches against New Zealand the fifth and last one coming at the ICC World T20 in 2016For a team that has stormed its way to the top of world cricket with wins over Australia England and Sri Lanka among others this piece of statistic certainly sticks out like a sore thumb That aside India have been on a rollWith series wins over big teams like Australia India have firmly stamped their supremacy in the limitedovers formatHaving emerged a 21 winner in a keenlycontested preceding Oneday International series against the sameopponents Indias confidence is high and they would look to continue the good work in this slambang formatWith a strong allround and inform team at their disposal India will fancy their chances of improving their record against the KiwisFresh from his fluent century in the seriesdeciding third and final ODI which made him the fastest to complete 9000 runs skipper Virat Kohli will be eyeing yet another series victory He looked in great touch alongside Rohit Sharma the games other centurion and the two batting stalwarts would eye an encoreBesides the vicecaptain and the captain Shikhar Dhawan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has a better record against the Kiwis among Indian players will look to shoulder the batting responsibilityAllrounder Hardik Pandya adds to the teams strength and the New Zealanders would be wary of himIn bowling India will look to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for breakthroughs with the new ball as well as in the death oversWith his matchturning effort on Sunday Bumrah showed why he is considered the best death bowler in the worldThough he went for 92 in his 10over spell in Kanpur Bhuvneshwar has normally been a bowler captain Kohli could turn toLegspinner Yuzvendra Chahal will be high on confidence after his crucial twowicket burst at Green Park and he is again going to be the key spinner Kuldeep Yadav is the other spinner who could figure in the playing XI Then there is Nehra who will bring to an end 18 years of international cricket journey and he must be hoping for that perfect endingAgainst the likes of Kane Williamson Ross Taylor Tom Latham Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner it will take some doingTeams from India Virat Kohli capt Rohit Sharma Jasprit Bumrah Yuzvendra Chahal Shikhar Dhawan Mahendra Singh Dhoni Shreyas Iyer Dinesh Karthik Kuldeep Yadav Bhuvneshwar Kumar Mohammed Siraj Ashish Nehra only for first game Manish Pandey Hardik Pandya Axar Patel KL RahulNew Zealand Kane Williamsoncapt Todd Astle Trent Boult Tom Bruce Colin de Grandhomme Martin Guptill Matt Henry Tom Latham Henry Nicholls Adam Milne Colin Munro Glenn Phillips Mitchell Santner Ish Sodhi Tim SoutheeMatch starts at 7 pm IST