Shubman Gill or Prithvi Shaw? Hardik Pandya Breaks Silence on who will Play in IND vs NZ 1st T20I, READ

Prithvi Shaw has returned to the Indian team after a year. However, captain of the Indian T20I side for New Zealand series, Hardik Pandya has informed that the right-hander will have to wait for his opportunity confirming he will not play the first T20I against New Zealand on Friday (January 26). Pandya suggested that the openers will be Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan, who have deserved their chance to play in absence of skipper Rohit Sharma.

"Shaw will have to wait for his opportunity as Gill has done very well and was already part of the T20 team," Pandya said. (WATCH: MS Dhoni meets Team India ahead of IND vs NZ 1st T20I, video goes viral)

Notably, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan played all three T20Is against Sri Lanka before the ODI series against New Zealand and will retain their spots.

Prithvi Shaw is one of the explosive batters in the country but his absence from the Men in Blue will see him wait for an opportunity. Gill has been in sensational form in the ODI format and he deserves a chance in the shorter format as well given the consistency he has shown so far. (ALSO READ: IND vs NZ 1st T20I Tickets for MS Dhoni Pavilion and Other Stands at Ranchi Stadium Sold Out)

Hardik Pandya confirms Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill will open tomorrow. Prithvi Shaw has to wait. (Reported by PTI).

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 26, 2023

The other one is Ishan Kishan, who will keep the wickets for India, and Shaw's inclusion could mean he would have to change his first choice of batting position with India also compromising the left and right-hand combination up the order. Rahul Tripathi has also done fairly well to fix his spot at number 3 while Suryakumar Yadav is irreplaceable at the moment followed up by Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar also waiting down the order to get their chance to showcase their batting skills.

Pandya who has been playing a vital role as an all-rounder for the Indian team said that he enjoys bowling with the new ball and does not feel pressure while bowling because of preparing well for the match.

"I always enjoyed bowling the new ball for quite a number of years. Now, whenever I pick a ball in the nets it`s always a new ball. What happened in the last game where we had to rest our two main fast bowlers, I had to bowl with a new ball. It has never been a pressure... half of the time the pressure is not there if you prepare well," Pandya said.

India's T20I squad against New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar.