Completely thrashed by Australia in their recent tour, veteran New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor feels New Zealand have got a lot more confidence as they welcome Virat Kohli led India for five Twenty20 International matches, three One Day Internationals, and two Tests. The series will begin on January 24. The series will begin with the T20 format.
“We were completely outplayed in all facets of the game throughout the whole series, but now we’re back on home soil and India will be a totally different opposition. They’re the No 1 team in the world, but we’re obviously in conditions that we know, so let’s get through the white-ball phase first before we get on to talking about that,” Ross Taylor was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz
The senior batsman also said that the shortest format of the game had progressed quite quickly since its first edition of the World Cup in 2007.
“Not a lot of people knew what to expect in the first World Cup in South Africa in 07, but it’s grown a lot. Obviously the IPL came along not so long after. Quite often you used to play one, maybe two games, now we’ve got a five-match series. The game’s evolved and the shots that the men and the women are playing make it exciting for people to come along and watch,” he shared.
“There’s been a lot of talk in recent times about [the future] of test cricket and one-day cricket and Twenty20. Hopefully, there’s room for all three and Twenty20 for the next five matches anyway will be exciting and the New Zealand public will be looking forward to a good series,” he concluded.
Like India, New Zealand will also play a few Twenty20 games before the T20 World Cup in October. The five T20I games against India will be the first out of 21 games which they will play later.
