Taking Guard: An Expert Take on India’s Historic Cricket Rivalry with New Zealand

India’s tour of New Zealand after the world cup, starting from 18th November to 30th November will be telecasted on the popular streaming platform Amazon Prime Video. The series will be divided into three One Day Internationals, preceded by an equal number of T20Is. Moreover, the streaming platform will have exclusive rights for the limited series Taking Guard, for both men’s and women’s cricket matches against New Zealand.

Fans excited to watch the bi-lateral series live on Prime Video will also get an additional ring-side view into the storied rivalry between two giants of the short format game, as the streaming service announced today the launch of a six-part mini-series Taking Guard: India’s Quest for Kiwi Glory. Taking Guard explores India’s fabled rivalry with the Kiwis, going back to 1967, through archival match footage, soundbites and graphics.

The documentary moves seamlessly through varied themes chronicling India’s tour to New Zealand over the years. Former greats of the game, who lend their voice in telling this riveting story include Ravi Shastri, Ajit Agarkar, Danny Morrison, Simon Doull and Ian Smith. Harsha Bhogle, who has not only witnessed this rivalry from close quarters but has been the voice narrating the highs and lows from some of these matches from the commentary box, also talks about his experience. The new series launched exclusively on Prime Video today.

“At Prime Video we are committed to super-serving our customers in India, providing on-demand access to the best in entertainment across formats, genres and languages,” said Chaitanya Divan, Head of Sports, Prime Video, India. “We are now excited to bring them the best in live sports and provide a new viewing experience of the much anticipated bi-lateral tour this November, between the two titans of the cricketing world – India and New Zealand.”

“Indians have a huge appetite for cricket and we are excited to present the new exclusive mini-series Taking Guard before India’s highly-anticipated tour to New Zealand in a few weeks. Featuring insights and analysis from cricketing legends, Taking Guard casts the spotlighton the rivalry between the two countries, which barely sees any baring of the teeth, snarling or heated moments on the field but is full of intense competition and peppered with mutual respect. We are excited and look forward to this contest between two terrific and evenly-matched sides and will announce a few more initiatives for cricket fans in the coming weeks as the action moves from Australia to New Zealand.” Divanadded.

This mini-series is part of Prime Video’s special programming initiative around the upcoming series that starts on 18^th November with the first T20I and concludes with the last ODI on 30^th November. As a part of the multi-year partnership, international men’s and women’s cricket matches played in New Zealand across all formats – will be available exclusively on Prime Video India.

Team India recently announced the white ball squad for their tour of New Zealand. The series promises to be an exciting chapter in the next generation of Indian cricketers as they prepare themselves for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup next year. It will mark Hardik Pandya’s debut as a Team India captain of the T20I squad and will have Shikhar Dhawan lead in the fifty-over format.

The T20I team features as many as eight in-form players from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad including, Hardik, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh. In addition, in the fast bowling department, Mohammed Siraj and Deepak Chahar come in for the T20Is and ODIs respectively. The young Shubhman Gill who led the India A team against their Kiwi counterparts is expected to make his international debut for India in the shortest format of the game in this series.

Watch Taking Guard Trailer Below

New Zealand has had a terrific campaign in the shortest format of the game recently, and the last time India toured New Zealand was in 2020, where they played two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20I matches. Whilst the T20I series was a clean sweep for India, New Zealand won the ODI series which was also their first clean sweep against India in an ODI series with three or more matches. Will the two evenly matched sides recreate that same magic of the previous tour this time around? Fans will have to wait and watch.

Fans on Prime Video can also access a host of cricket programming and highlights, and can also watch clips of key moments from the matches on the service shortly after each match ends.

You can stream the series on Amazon Prime Video. Let us know your thoughts about it in the comment section below.

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