New Zealand coach Gary Stead says his team is bracing up for a tough and challenging schedule as it heads to India for a three-match T20 series, starting just three days after the T20 World Cup final which the Black Caps lost to Australia here.

New Zealand on Sunday lost to Australia by eight wickets in the final but Kane Williamson’s men will hardly have any time to regroup as it faces India in the opening T20I at Jaipur on Wednesday. It will be followed by the second and third T20Is on November 19 and November 21, before they kick off their World Test Championship defence with two games in Kanpur and Mumbai.
 
“It’s the first time that I can remember that we’re so quickly into another series at the back-end of the T20 World Cup,” Stead said. “It’s definitely tough and challenging but it is what is in front of us.”