Cheteshwar Pujara backs Bhuvneshwar Kumar ahead of clash in Christchurch

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Team India is set to take on New Zealand in the five-match T20I series. The first match is scheduled to be played on October 22 at the Hagley Park South in the central city of Christchurch.

Ahead of the match, former Team India’s cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara feels that veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar should be the team’s first choice with the new ball. He said that if he gets a little help from the pitch, the pacer will extract movement from it.

“In New Zealand, I agree that he should be the first choice with the new ball, based on the conditions, because of the skill he possesses of swinging the ball. If the ball won’t swing in New Zealand, where else will it swing? The conditions there are ideal for him. If there is a little help from the pitch, he can extract that movement from the pitch very well with the new ball,” he said on JioHotstar.

Further, he said that if Shreyas Iyer performs in New Zealand’s conditions, it will boost his confidence.

“When you go to New Zealand and defeat the New Zealand team, it’s a big achievement. Performing well in overseas conditions for the Indian team in any format, whether it is ODIs, T20Is, or a Test match, boosts your confidence. If you do well there as a captain or as a team, your confidence goes up, that you can perform well not just in Indian conditions, but anywhere in the world,” said Pujara.

The second T20I match will be played on October 24 at the same venue. The third T20I match is scheduled to be played on October 27 at the Wellington Regional Stadium in Wellington, followed by the fourth game on October 30 at the Eden Park in Auckland. The Seddon Park in Hamilton will host the fifth clash on November 1.

It will be interesting to see if the “Men in Blue” manage to secure win in the series against the “Black Caps”. After the T20I series, both team will engage in the ODI and Test series.

IND vs NZ 1st T20I: Full squads

India: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (WK), Tilak Varma (VC), Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Matt Henry, Glenn Phillips, Zak Foulkes, Michael Bracewell, Adam Milne, Mitchell Santner (C), Bevon Jacobs, Jacob Duffy, Daryl Mitchell, Tim Seifert, Mark Chapman, Kyle Jamieson, Devon Conway, Nathan Smith, Lockie Ferguson.

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