(Cricket news) India will be starting their preparation for the 2024 T20 World Cup with the series against New Zealand. The 2022 World Cup was a massive disappointment as far as India is concerned. There are constant reports of change in the T20I status. Hardik Pandya who will be leading the side for the New Zealand series has already come out and said that many players will be given a chance in the T20Is for the next 2 years which is an indication of changes to come. The 1st T20I will be played at the Sky Stadium in Wellington. India's main objective in this series would be to give opportunity to as many players as possible.

India's possible playing XI:

Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Umran Malik

Bench: Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 
 
Opening with Rishabh Pant will be a big call but one which needs to be made. India need an explosive batter at the top and Pant has the added advantage of being a left hander. It will be a difficult decision to leave out Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel but it is necessary to give Mohammed Siraj and Umran Malik more chances. India's batting tail is very long but in a bilateral series India can afford to take that risk. The two batters sitting out also deserve an opportunity but they may have to wait for it.

India's possible playing XI:

Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne

Bench: Michael Bracewell, Blair Tickner 

New Zealand have made the call of dropping Trent Boult and Martin Guptill. With Guptill it's just a case of the team trying to move on as both Conway and Allen are better than him at the moment. The reason to drop Boult is definitely because he refused a central contract and the board was very clear that priority will be given to others. Adam Milne is likely to play as a 3rd seamer alongside Southee and Ferguson. A lot of experts have questioned Kane Williamson's place in the T20I set-up but the skipper has said that he wants to continue playing all 3 formats for New Zealand. This will be an important series for him to try and prove that he can still do the job in T20s.

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