At the toss ahead of third T20I match against New Zealand, India captain Virat Kohli made his weather prediction
India, chasing their first-ever T20I series win in New Zealand, lost the toss at Seddon Park on Wednesday as both the teams lined up for the third match of the series. India, leading the five-match series, 2-0 need a win to take an unassailable series. But, the Hamilton encounter is likely to be affected by rain.
At the toss, India captain Virat Kohli made his big statement about nature's fickle nature. Here's what he said: "Looks like a nice track, it's pretty hard, nice grass cover, the weather might have a say in the second innings, but toss isn't in our control. Just put a clinical performance, carry forward the momentum and grab the chances that comes."
India are unchanged, but the Kiwis have made one change.
"Don't worry about too many changes, just go out there and do the job. No changes once again, the boys did a good job with both bat and ball, no need to make any changes at all," a confident Kohli added.
Meanwhile, rivak captain Kane Williamson reckoned that they themselves a playing a very strong side, featuring local lad Scott Kuggeleijn. "We will bowl first. A new surface, hopefully, we will get something from it. Need to follow our plans, we are playing a strong side, a new ground, a new surface, do the job with the ball. One change, Scott Kuggeleijn is in, for Blair Tickner. Both offer pretty much the same, both bowl heavy balls, perhaps, Scott is a bit better batsman." he said.
Teams
India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Shami.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Tim Seifert (wk), Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Scott Kuggeleijn and Hamish Bennett.