Introduction
The International Cricket Council has confirmed the dates for the next edition of the ICC World T20. The tournament is set to take place in India, from March 2020 to April 2020. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) were awarded hosting rights at the annual International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in London on Friday. This is a huge win for Indian cricket and its fans as this will be the first time that India hosts an ICC event since 1987.
Team India
Recently, a new bilateral cricket series has been announced between India and New Zealand. The two teams will play three Twenty20 Internationals in November 2020 with the first match to be played in Cuttack.
The series is being hailed as a new beginning for Indian cricket as it is the first time since 2008 that the team has toured overseas for a bilateral series.
The tour will also see India playing its first matches at home after the 2019 World Cup, giving them an opportunity to iron out any problems before their next assignment - taking on Australia in the last of five ODIs from January 29-February 2.
Team New Zealand
The New Zealand cricket team is all set to play the first T20I of the three-match series in India. The match will be played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, and it will be broadcasted live on Star Sports. This is a new beginning for both teams, with many new players making their debut for both teams. There are a few players that have been retained from the previous World Cup team and these include Ross Taylor, Tim Southee and Trent Boult.
The Indian squad has also been revamped with plenty of fresh talent making an appearance in front of the world stage.
Venues
The venues for the series have been confirmed as Eden Park, Auckland on Saturday 28th February; Bay Oval, Mt Maunganui on Sunday 29th February; McLean Park, Napier on Tuesday 1st March; Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Thursday 3rd March and Westpac Stadium, Wellington on Saturday 5th March. Eden Park has hosted 25 T20 internationals. The other four grounds have all staged ten matches each with Hagley Oval hosting the highest number of internationals (eight). All these grounds are in the two main centres of Auckland and Wellington.
Schedule
The New Zealand national cricket team will play a three-match Twenty-20 International (T20I) series against India in January and February 2020. This is the first time that these two teams have played each other in a bilateral series of any kind since their last encounter during the 2015 ICC World Cup. The series will consist of three matches, which will be played at Mohali, Mumbai, and Chennai respectively.
The tour is seen as the start of a new era for Indian cricket. The previous captain Virat Kohli has stepped down following mixed results in 2019 and was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan.
Squads
The Indian team will host the first three matches of the series, at Kochi on February 22, followed by Chennai and Hyderabad. All of these are new venues for international cricket as none have hosted a full international match before. In contrast, all three matches for the New Zealand team will be played in venues that have hosted international cricket before - Hamilton, Wellington and Auckland.
The Indian squad is led by Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma as vice-captain. The squad includes six players who have been part of all their previous ICC World Twenty20 tournaments - skipper Kohli, Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya.
Conclusion
The Indian team is in a rebuilding phase and will be looking to their new captain Rohit Sharma to lead them to victory. They are slated to play two test matches, three ODIs and four T20s. This is the first time India will be playing against the Kiwis in a bilateral series. The team has been on an upswing of late with their performance in the Asia Cup 2018 where they won the title for the third time, defeating Bangladesh in the final. With that victory, they have qualified for next year's World Cup.
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