Former India captain MS Dhoni achieved another milestone on Sunday as he became the first Indian cricketer to have made 300 appearances in T20 cricket as the men in blue played New Zealand at Seddon Park In Hamilton. Tied at 1-1, India are playing the third and final T20I in hope of claiming the three-match series.
The 300 match appearances by the wicketkeeper-batsman involves not only International cricket but also Indian Premier League games. In fact, only 95 of the 300 T20I appearances were for the national side while others came in non-international tournaments.
With the milestone, Dhoni joins the likes of Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik and Dwayne Bravo in an elite list of players with over 300 T20 appearances to their name. West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard tops the list with 446 T20 matches.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl in the series-deciding third T20 International against New Zealand here on Sunday. India made one change with Kuldeep Yadav coming in for Yuzvendra Chahal. New Zealand also made one change with Blair Tickner replacing Lockie Ferguson.
Squad:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Tim Seifert (wk), Colin Munro, Daryl Mitchell, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner.
