India vs New Zealand 2021-22: Harshal Patel makes his debut as India opts to chase in 2nd T20I in Ranchi

India and New Zealand are facing off in the second T20I in Ranchi on Friday. While India has opted to chase again, Harshal Patel is making his debut, as New Zealand looks to square things here.

After the thrilling opening Twenty20 International (T20I) win in Jaipur on Wednesday, India and New Zealand are clashing in the second T20I at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Friday. While India is desperate to seal the deal here, New Zealand aims to square things to stay alive in the series.

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won it at the toss and opted to chase, keeping the dew factor in mind again. He applauded the effort from his boys in the previous game and the learning from it, while he deemed that energy and experience are crucial in such games. He expressed his confidence over the young lot in the side while he made a change by bringing in pacer Harshal Patel for fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj.

On the other hand, Kiwi skipper Tim Southee said, "We would have bowled first, considering the dew, but there's going to be dew right throughout the game. It's always about improving, so we had to keep fighting and take the game deep in the first match. We have to focus on the positives. We'll have to deal with the dew, no point in using it as an excuse. We need to find a way to put up a good performance. We have three changes. Milne, Neesham and Sodhi are back for Ferguson, Rachin Ravindra and Astle."

Playing XI
India: KL Rahul (vc & wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee(c), Adam Milne and Trent Boult.