India out to reinforce T20I truths

In the aftermath of the Nagpur T20I, Mitchell Santner shrugged and spoke like the captain of a team that had scored 190 and still lost by 48 runs.

"There's no real 'try and squeeze a couple of dot-ball moments' with this team [India], you've just got to be on from ball one to win it."

This isn't hyperbole. India's unparalleled success in a format where consistency is hardest to sustain, has its roots in batting. This is no slight on the bowling, which has its own generational quality, but it is the batters who have dictated this team's fortunes. And those returns haven't dipped, even after the highs of winning the World Cup two years ago.

Now with less than a month to go for a home World Cup, India got rid of combination complications they ran into briefly, and are lining up again as the team to beat. Nagpur re-told much of that narrative, and Raipur offers the second of five such chances for India to perfect the pointy ends of their shiny daggers.

Within the four walls of the New Zealand dressing room, Santner will perhaps tell his troops that they are not far from a win. Batters will get a pat on the back and bowlers the encouragement to push just a little harder, plan a touch better. But the idea of 'belief' can't be arbitrary. It will be about narrowing margins, stretching moments, and seeing if they can collectively push back against the sense of inevitability India seem to carry into this most volatile of formats.

And like in Nagpur, India will be up for it. To blunt such efforts, reinforce the world order and continue offering sermons of this T20I truth.

When: India vs New Zealand, 2nd T20I, January 23, 7:00 PM IST

Where: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur

What to expect: A big partisan crowd. The stadium in Raipur is a 60K seater. There is also a bit of an unknown to the conditions as the venue has hosted just one T20I before – between India and Australia back in 2023.

Axar Patel left the field midway through his fourth over in Nagpur with a bleeding left index finger, struck by a shot from Daryl Mitchell. The short turnaround time doesn't offer much scope for full recovery if the hit was severe.

If he's out, India could be saddled with combination woes. Kuldeep Yadav as a second spinner in place of Axar adds up, but it weakens the batting depth. India have an ideal like-for-like option in their World Cup squad in Washington Sundar, who is currently nursing a side strain and is ruled out of the series.

Probable XI: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel/Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun CV

It might be too early in a five-match series to ring in changes, but New Zealand could be tempted by the idea of bringing in the experience of Matt Henry in place of one of the quicks.

Probable XI: Tim Robinson, Devon Conway (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), Kristian Clarke/Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy

Stats Spotlight:

• 35.8% of Rinku Singh's career T20I runs have come in the 19th and 20th overs of an innings (213 runs).
• Sanju Samson's contrasting T20I fortunes: 436 runs at a strike rate of 180.16 in 2024; 22 runs at a strike rate of 126.85 in 2025.
• Since 2025, Glenn Phillips has scored 500 runs in 16 T20I innings at a strike rate of 149.70.
• Among spinners who have bowled a minimum of 50 T20I overs in India, Mitchell Santner has the third-best economy rate (6.80), only behind Rashid Khan (5.99) and Ravindra Jadeja (6.77).

Quotes:
"I don't feel it [six-hitting] is a high risk game. I wouldn't say it's my comfort zone, but it's like I've always wanted the team to be first [priority]. Because they want to use the first six overs [well]. That's what I've been practicing in the nets as well." – Abhishek Sharma on his methods.

"I think he's shown his class over the last few years for us. He's kind of taken that senior bowling role for us and when he swings it up top, it's nice." – Mitchell Santner on Jacob Duffy.