The BLACKCAPS won the toss and elected to bowl first in the opening Twenty20 cricket international against India in Christchurch tonight.
New Zealand's batting has been bolstered by Ross Taylor, who returns to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained during the fifth and final Chappell-Hadlee Trophy one-day match in Brisbane this month.
Taylor passed a fitness test today while allrounder Jacob Oram and opening batsman Jesse Ryder also return from injury.
New Zealand have omitted Grant Elliott and Neil Broom from their 11 while India have left out Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel and Dinesh Kartik.
The second and final match is in Wellington on Friday.
BLACKCAPS:
Daniel Vettori (captain), Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Ewen Thompson, Iain O'Brien. Grant Elliott (12th man).
India:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma. Ravindra Jadeja (12th man).
NZPA
New Zealand's batting has been bolstered by Ross Taylor, who returns to the side after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained during the fifth and final Chappell-Hadlee Trophy one-day match in Brisbane this month.
Taylor passed a fitness test today while allrounder Jacob Oram and opening batsman Jesse Ryder also return from injury.
New Zealand have omitted Grant Elliott and Neil Broom from their 11 while India have left out Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Munaf Patel and Dinesh Kartik.
The second and final match is in Wellington on Friday.
BLACKCAPS:
Daniel Vettori (captain), Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Ewen Thompson, Iain O'Brien. Grant Elliott (12th man).
India:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma. Ravindra Jadeja (12th man).
NZPA
