India v New Zealand Second T20 Tips: Back these two Kiwis at 16/5 and 10/1

• India have 1-0 lead after win in Nagpur

• Home batters lay waste to pitch reports
• Henry has to return for Kiwis
• Chapman underrated for runs at 10s
• No evidence of Raipur toss bias
• For Betfair's latest cricket betting odds click here

India v New Zealand
Friday 23, 13.30
TV: Live on TNT

India v New Zealand second T20 team news

India prodcued a monstrous batting effort on a historically slow Nagpur pitch to underline why they are the Betfair Sportsbook's 11/82.38 favourites for next month's T20 World Cup. The 238 for seven was a sizeable total and there were important cameos for the likes of Surykumar yadav and Rinku Singh.

Sky, in particular, needed a good hit, and his 32 from 22 was a welcome return to form after a barren run. Abhishek Sharma was the star, though, with eight sixes in his 84. 

Ishan Kishan had a failure at No 3. They may be audtioning for that role so it is possible Shreyas Iyer comes in for a go. Varun Chakravarthy confirmed his postion as No 1 spinner with two wickets.

Probable India XI: Abhishek, Samson, Ishan, Sky, Hardik, Axar, Rinku, Dube, Varun, Bumrah, Arshdeep

New Zealand were never really in the hunt to chase India's score in Nagpur despite a brillaint Glenn Phillips 78 and Mark Chapman blitzing 39. The issue was the two wickets they lost inside the first two overs and a front three of Devon Conway, Tim Robinson and Rachin Ravindra is, frankly, weak selection.

They need a Finn Allen or Tim Seifert to be under consideration to do the damage up front and the Kiwis are not moving with the times. There was no Matt Henry with the ball but if fit he surely replaces Kristian Clarke or Kyke Jamieson. 

Possible New Zealand XI: Conway, Robinson, Ravindra, Phillips, Chapman, Mitchell, Santner, Clarke/Jamieson, Sodhi, Duffy, Henry

India v New Zealand second T20 pitch report

There have been 12 night matches at Raipur with seven won by the team chasing. The study sample is not big enough to get excited about any sort of toss trend. The RPO in the first match innings is 7.7 and in the second it is 7.6. But the last game played there was in 2023 and before that it was 2016 so don't get bogged down into thinking this is a turgid surface.

Three years ago India posted 174 against Australia and won by 20 runs. Axar Patel took three wickets but there are no suggestions it was a raging turner. This is a game where we are likely to see India's runs line on the par markets get up towards that 190 mark. 

India v New Zealand second T20 match prediction

New Zealand were our selection if they batted first in Nagpur because of a toss bias. After the shellacking in the field in that game we retain support but with the same caveat. The reason is that there is a strong possibibility they go round the park again bowling first so their price at the break is likely to be too big. And we want the scoreboard pressure factor taken away for them.

Instead it needs to serve as a basis for them to get a foothold in the game with the ball. Smarter skippering from Mitch Santner might not go amiss, either. Odds of 4.03/1 on the Betfair Exchange are chunky for a team which can be efficient, gritty and be more than the sum of its parts.

New-ball wickets could be crucial and Henry's inclusion will certainly help in that regard. At the least they should be capable of trading this as a choice affair. 

India v New Zealand first T20 ODI player bets

There were two big win-rate bets which copped immediatwly in game one; Abhishek Sharma for India on top bat and Jacob Duffy with the ball for the Kiwis. We don't like to follow players for back-to-back wins but there don't appear to be any ricks on the India runs market. Duffy, though, should come under pressure from Matt Henry at 16/54.20. With the bat, Chapman is of interest at 10/111.00. That's toppy for a No 10 who has a good record on the market and looked in decent touch.

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