After a successful ODI series, India will play their last overseas series before the all-important World Cup in May this year. The Men in Blue are heading to a T20 International rubber against New Zealand, starting 6 February.
The five-match series ended 4-1 in India’s favour, after the visitors suffered a brutal thrashing at the hands of the Kiwis in the fourth ODI at Hamilton.
With regular skipper Virat Kohli deciding to take time off from national duty, Rohit Sharma took over captaincy duties after the third ODI, and will continue leading the Indian side in the shortest format.
Even one win in this three-match series for team India would be a historic one, considering the Men in Blue have NEVER defeated the Black Caps in a T20I on their home soil.
2009: India vs New Zealand T20Is
The first and only time that India played a T20 International series in New Zealand, was way back in 2008-09.
Led by MS Dhoni, then captain in all formats, the tour kicked off with the T20I series. This was still the era of the great Virender Sehwag opening with Gautam Gambhir, followed by Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh in the middle order. It was still the time when the Pathan brothers were in the squad, and Harbhajan Singh was spinning his web around batsmen.
The hosts defeated India by 7 wickets in the series opener, and followed it up with a 5-wicket victory at Wellington, completing a 2-0 whitewash of the Men in Blue.
But that was the end of India’s misery on that tour, because the MS Dhoni-led teams went on to win only their second Test series in New Zealand and then their first-ever ODI series win there.
Other T20Is: India 2-4 New Zealand
Other than those two T20Is in NZ, India have played a total of seven T20 Internationals against the Black Caps; of which four ended in New Zealand’s favour, two were won by India, and one game was abandoned.
The first time the two teams played a game in the shortest format, New Zealand had won by 10 runs in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
When the Kiwis toured India in 2012, the series opener was abandoned due to rain and the visitors won the next match by a narrow 1-run margin. At the 2016 World T20, New Zealand had again defeated host India by 47 runs, extending their unbeaten record to five out of five games.
And in 2017 – during New Zealand’s tour in India – came the Men in Blue’s much-awaited maiden win against the Black Caps. After losing the second ODI of that series, Virat Kohli-led India defeated NZ in the series decider to register their first-ever T20 series win against them.
Can Rohit Sharma and co repeat that feat in New Zealand?
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