NEW DELHI: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and chose to bowl first against India in the opening T20I on Wednesday. The decision came with conditions expected to remain good for batting while some assistance could be available later in the evening.

New Zealand walk into the five-match T20I series with confidence after clinching the ODI series 2-1. They have also handed a T20I debut to Kristian Clarke, who adds fresh pace to their bowling attack alongside Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy.

For India Ishan Kishan returns to the side and slots in at number three. Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav have been left out for this game as the hosts look to test combinations early in the series.

Captains speak on conditions and plans

Santner felt the surface looked ideal for a high-scoring contest and backed his side to handle the challenge of playing in India.

“Looks like a pretty good wicket and looks pretty high-scoring. Last week was pretty special. Every team knows how hard it is to come to India and win but this is a fresh series and they are a tough team in home conditions.”

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted they were slightly keen to bowl first but was comfortable with batting upfront if required.

“We were looking to bowl first because we felt there was dew around 8.30 during our practice. But we don’t mind putting runs on the board and we have done well batting first.”

Playing XIs

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

India (Playing XI): Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

(With PTI Inputs)