What happened the last time India played a T20I in Lucknow? 

After a 21-run defeat in the opening T20I in Ranchi, Team India will look to make a comeback in the three-match series when they face New Zealand in the second T20I. The highly anticipated encounter is scheduled to be played at the Bharat Ratna Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, January 29.

Situated in Uttar Pradesh, the venue in Lucknow has hosted a total of five T20Is so far. It is interesting that all five of these matches have been won by teams batting first. It makes it clear that batting first is the key to winning here. The pitch is expected to help the batters in the first innings, but it gets tougher as the match progresses.

The pacers have done really well on this ground as the soil here has been helpful for them, and even the spinners can play a part later on.

So far, India have played just two T20Is in Lucknow, winning both of those encounters. The last time India played a T20I in Lucknow was in February last year. Lucknow hosted the first of the three-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka.

Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma in action vs Sri Lanka in Lucknow [Pic Credit: BCCI]

After being put to bat first, India found themselves in a commanding situation. They started terrifically well courtesy of a 111-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan.

While the Indian skipper was dismissed after a well-made 44 in the 12th over, Kishan went on to score 89 off 56 balls, which is his personal best in this format. Shreyas Iyer, with his quickfire 28-ball 57, provided an extra push at the end to take the total to a massive 199 runs.

In response, Sri Lanka crawled to 137 for six in their 20 overs and went down without a fight. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Venkatesh Iyer took two wickets each, while Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja also scalped a wicket each.

As a result, the Men in Blue won the game by 62 runs and went 1-0 up in the series.

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New Zealand eye their first three-match T20I bilateral series win in India

Mitchell Santner (L) and Hardik Pandya (R) posing with the T20I trophy [Pic Credit: BCCI]

A clinical performance in the opening T20I in Ranchi saw New Zealand beat India by 21 runs and take 1-0 in the series. In fact, it was their first T20I win over the Men in Blue after 10 matches (only bilaterals included).

The upcoming second T20I in Lucknow offers the Blackcaps a golden chance to seal the ongoing series and take an unassailable 2-0 lead. If they do, it will be New Zealand's maiden three-match T20I bilateral series win against India away from home.

While the Kiwis have previously won a T20I series in India against the Men in Blue in 2012, it was a two-game rubber with one game being abandoned due to rain.