IND vs NZ 2nd T20I: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi returns as India bowl first in milestone 300th match

The wait is over as teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has returned to the playing XI for the 2nd T20I against New Zealand. Indian captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. The visitors made another ‘tactical’ change by replacing Mayank Yadav with Prince Yadav. New Zealand also made a change to their pace attack, roping in Jacob Duffy for Adam Milne.

Here are the playing XIs for both teams -

India - Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav

New Zealand - Finn Allen, Tim Seifert(wk), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Lockie Ferguson

Here is what the captains said at the toss:

Shreyas Iyer, Indian Captain: “We're going to bowl first. We have had a little bit of time to recover and catch up on some sleep. Everyone is in decent shape, I would say. Some of the players, including myself, do their training on match day. So, we are in a good place.

"It is important to maintain the aggression and repeat the things we did well in the first game. In addition, we need to be proactive in the field and ensure we don't have an extra fielder inside the circle, especially in the last over.

“Ishan is injured, so Vaibhav comes in for him. Prince comes in for Mayank, which is just a tactical change. He is going to bat at number three,” he said.

Mitchell Santner, New Zealand Captain: “They are a very good team, and I think we missed the mark slightly. That comes from the way they approach their game. It was a great game of cricket in the end.

“Losing in the last over is disappointing, but there were obviously many positives. We need to execute the small details better and see what happens.

“Duffy comes in for Milne. With the number of games we have coming up, not just T20s but one-day internationals as well, there will be some rotation among the senior players, especially with a lot of Test cricket coming up. It has nothing to do with performance; it is just a bit of rotation, and we will see what Duffy can do tonight," Santner continued.

Meanwhile, India, playing their landmark 300th T20I match – leads the five-match T20I series 1-0.