If Milne comes

Black Caps coach Gary Stead wanted Adam Milne in his team for their Twenty20 World Cup opener against Pakistan and couldn’t have him.

But while he was blocked from playing in that loss, he will be there when they face India in a must-win match this weekend (first ball 3am Monday, NZ time) and that means Stead and his staff have a decision to make.

Milne has come into the squad to replace Lockie Ferguson, who has torn a calf muscle and will play no further part in the tournament.

But who will he come into the playing XI for? And will there be any other changes?

Stead said legspinner Ish Sodhi was the man who would have made way had the injury replacement been approved before the five-wicket loss to Pakistan, but that was down to the specific conditions in Sharjah.

It’s hard to see

Sodhi being left out against India in

Dubai, especially as he’ll have fond memories of playing against them at the last World Cup, five years ago, where he took 3-18 in a lowscoring win in Nagpur.

He took 2-28 from his four overs against Pakistan, combining with left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner to turn the screws on their middle order – a period of pressure that later eased when Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali finished strongly to help their side claim an important win.

Stead has said they will take a ``horse for courses’’ approach as they move around the three venues in use in the United Arab Emirates.

Their scouting led them to favour seam bowlers banging it

in to the deck in Sharjah, and even though Sodhi performed well, they probably would still have preferred to have had Milne’s pace, especially at the death.

The Black Caps were set to bat deep against Pakistan, with Santner at No 8, and Jimmy Neesham as one of their frontline bowlers, prior to Ferguson’s injury.

They could do so again, with Milne replacing one of Tim Southee or Trent Boult, who both started strongly but were hit around towards the end.

Anything could be on the table now that Stead and co have shown a willingness to move away from the Santner-Sodhi spin duo that had been one of the few constants in their T20 side over the past few years, if the conditions call for it.

But it feels more likely that a batsman will make way – and Daryl Mitchell and Tim Seifert are the two who appear to be on the bubble.

Mitchell seemingly played his way into contention for the Black Caps’ first match after a couple of strong warm-up outings against the Netherlands and Australia – matches firstchoice opener Seifert didn’t play in.

Stead said Mitchell got the nod against Pakistan ‘‘after what we’d seen with his power and the way he was holding his shots in the warm-up games’’ and he delivered with an innings of 27 off 20, making the Black Caps’ equal-highest score.

The Canterbury all-rounder appears to be in form, even if he is somewhat of a makeshift option at the top, throwing a spotlight on the fact that other players with ‘‘power,’’ such as Finn Allen and Colin Munro, didn’t make the squad at all.

So does that mean Seifert, stuck down at No 7 against Pakistan and decidedly not in form, makes way instead?

That would mean Devon Conway has to keep, but that might be what’s needed for the Black Caps to field their strongest possible XI at this stage in proceedings.

The Black Caps have already beaten India once in a do-or-die match this year, when they won the World Test Championship final in June, and they made the right selection call then, in playing four seamers.

Now their fate at the T20 World Cup might depend on them getting it right again.