Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was on the bench against WI. Photo: BCCI
\n\nIndia and New Zealand will resume their rivalry and lock horns in a full-fledged series, starting Thursday (October 22). The series will kick off with a five-match T20I series. The series opener will be played at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch at 12:30 PM IST. India haven't made just a few changes in their T20I squad and retained the majority of players who were part of the home series against West Indies. Ahead of the first T20I, Aakash Chopra picked his playing XI on his YouTube channel. The noted commentator ignored Vaibhav Sooryanshi and retained the opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
\n\nChopra also retained Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who made his much-awaited India comeback after four years. Bhuvneshwar was included in the playing XI for the fifth T20I against West Indies but he didn't get a chance to bowl as the rain washed out the fixture.
\n\nArshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav are the other two pacers in the team. Chopra picked Shivam Dube ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy.
\n\nAakash Chopra's playing XI for 1st T20I vs NZ: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir…
Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/sports
