Kathmandu : Twenty20 cricket’s showpiece tournament begins in earnest on Tuesday as India, once so sniffy about the glitzy World T20, get the group stages under way for the first time on home soil. No host country has won the T20 world title in the last five editions and none has repeated a title triumph, but India's settled combination, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and familiarity with the conditions make them the odds-on favourites to script history.
Dhoni is expected to retire after the tournament and his team will be desperate to give him a fairytale send-off, five years after he led them to victory on home soil in the 50-over World Cup. New Zealand are a team that has captured attention wherever they've gone in the last few years. With Kane Williamson in charge and opening the batting, there is a massive void to fill with McCullum retired. They have a very good pace battery, including left-right combinations, and a varied spin attack to fall upon in the middle overs, for containment as well as taking wickets.
The 2007 Champions, India go into the Super 10 Group 2 clash against New Zealand with their tails up as the number one ranked team in the world. India have been on a roll in the shortest form of the game, winning their last seven outings which included a 3-0 whitewash of World 50-over champions Australia in the latter's backyard.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Pawan Negi, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammed Shami,Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (C), Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Corey Anderson,Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Colin Munro, Mitchell Santer, Nathan McCullum, Grant Elliott.
