India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I: India beat New Zealand by 6 wickets

J Bumrah to M Guptill, Beaten first up! Bumrah is right on the money for the first ball. It is a length ball just around off, Guptill feels for it first up as he looks to defend but gets beaten.

It is time for the action now. The Kiwi openers, Martin Guptill and Colin Munro are out in the middle. The Indian players take the field too. Jasprit Bumrah will start the proceedings for India first up. Here we go...

Time for the National Anthems first up. Both the sides walk out to the middle to stand in respect of the their respective national anthems.

India (Playing XI) - Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (WK), Virat Kohli (C), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami.

New Zealand (Playing XI) - Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (C), Tim Seifert (WK), Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Hamish Bennett (T20I DEBUT).

India skipper, Virat Kohli, says that the pitch looks really nice to bat on. Tells that they would look to strike quickly in the initial overs. Tells that they are fine after traveling all the way from Bangalore after finishing their ODI series. On the comeback of India in that series, Kohli belies that they showed great character in that series. Says that the side can bounce back from difficult situation and that gives them an edge in unfamiliar conditions. Tells that Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar are the players from the squad who miss out.

New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson, says that it was a 50-50 decision at the Toss. Feels that they have a great opportunity to play against one of the best sides in the world. Tells that they would look to execute their plans better and become a good side. Reveals that Mitchell and Kuggeleijn are the two players who are not playing.

TOSS - Kane Williamson flips the coin and it lands in India's favor. INDIA WILL BOWL FIRST.

Pitch Report - Scott Styris is down for the pitch report. Tells that there was a little rain overnight. He though confirms that rain will mostly stay away during the game. Feels that with shorter boundaries, no target is safe on this deck. Sunil Gavaskar joins him for the pitch report and says that the track is looking really good for batting. Feels that the surface is really hard and the ball will come on the bat nicely. Styris feels that both the sides will be able to do really well on this wicket.

It is almost time for the start of the 1st T20I between New Zealand and India as both the sides plan to finalize their 15 men for the T20 World Cup in Australia. India arrive on the shores of Kiwiland with a thumping victory against the Aussies in the ODI series while New Zealand were hammered by Australia in the Test series. However, as they say, a fresh series is a fresh beginning. Both sides would look to start afresh and take one game at a time and march forward. Let's see who takes the first step correctly. Be with us for the toss and team updates.