Wellington, Feb. 26: Having been ambushed in the first Twenty20 match, the beleaguered Blues would look to blast past the blocks set up by the Black Caps when the teams clash in the second T20 game at the Westpac Stadium here on Friday.

Given the hurt and humiliation caused to the world champions at Christchurch, one can expect a backlash from Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in a battle that can be billed as Friday fury.

However, the visitors will do well to remember that aggression helps keep the opposition on the back foot only if it is well-thought out and calculated unlike the one dished out in the previous game, where the batsmen lost their minds and wickets in their greed for quick runs that ended in a modest total being set.

The batters will need to be judicious and rally around each other, a far cry during the recent loss. Much would depend on the start provided by the electric opening combination of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, who would be keen to justify their stature in world cricket and provide a platform for the other batsmen to build on. Sehwag showed how devastating he can be by slamming four sixes in his 10-ball 26 ... if only he had stuck around a little longer.

The low scores from Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni can be put down to starting trouble on a long tour but India cannot afford another slip-up in the two-game T20 event they will be desperate to level.

Suresh Raina, who was India’s mainstay in the first match, so far appears to be the one with the best measure of the conditions and the game. Dhoni would expect him to continue the good show while expecting others to hunt in pairs and build good partnerships, something which was hard to come by in the recent loss.

Dhoni may also prefer to retain the combination and play a specialist bowler less in order to bolster the batting. That means Yusuf Pathan, Yuvraj Singh, Sehwag and/ or Raina could be called upon to fill in the fifth bowler’s quota.

However, the Indians need to watch out for the Kiwis, extremely confident after the thumping win. Brendon McCullum made a statement that he could win matches without smacking everything out of sight; youngsters Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor have showed they can pack a punch while the experienced Jacob Oram reiterated his reputation as an excellent finisher.

The New Zealand bowling, though inexperienced, also has managed to deliver, but one look at his wounded opponents and captain Daniel Vettori knows he will have his hands full even as he silently hopes for an encore.

Teams: New Zealand (from): Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Ewen Thompson.

India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik.

Umpires: Tony Hill, Gary Baxter. Third umpire: Evan Watkin.