If there ever is a team which plays their best cricket in ICC tournaments than it will have to be New Zealand. Yes, they have not won any World Cup be it in 50 over cricket or 20 over cricket, but they have always done better than what is expected from them.
New Zealand will once again start the tournament as the under-dogs but no team will take them lightly going by the history. New Zealand never had big players in their armory but somehow they combine together and work together as a team. It is a well known fact that lesser teams have a far better opportunity in shorter forms of cricket as they don’t have to keep up the intensity for a long period of time.
New Zealand have some game changers in their side and that is what matters in the T20 format. Some of their players played in the Sri
Lanka Premier League and that is bound to help them.
New Zealand in their last T20 match defeated India which by the way is one of the title contenders and that will certainly boost their
confidence.
In the batting department, Brendon McCullum will hold the key for the Kiwis at the top of the order. He is one of the most experienced block
in T20s and has played all over the globe. He played a tremendous innings against the Indians and that will certainly help his game. He
will be well supported by Martin Guptill at the top of the order. Guptill has evolved as a player but his struggle against spin bowling
is known to everyone.
In the middle order Kiwis have Ross Taylor who is one of the most dangerous players in T20 cricket. There will be a lot of spinners in
action in Sri Lanka and New Zealand will need Taylor’s hitting power to cope up with that. James Franklin has played a lot in IPL and Kiwis
will be banking on him a lot.
New Zealand’s bowling is a bit weak, apart from Daniel Vettori who is one of the most economical bowlers in T20s, New Zealand does not have
much. Tim Southee has been bowling well, but he does tends to bowl too many loose deliveries. Kyle Mills is also pretty experienced, but he
got injured in the match against India and that might affect his bowling, if he plays. New Zealand will be hoping that bowlers like
Doug Bracewell and Nathan McCullum will come good.
Key Players: Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori
Complete New Zealand Squad: Ross Taylor, Doug Bracewell, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Brendon McCullum, Nathan
McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Rob Nicol, Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Daniel Vettori, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson
