NZ reject Shane Watson's history lesson

New Zealand veteran Ross Taylor has little interest in Australian allrounder Shane Watson's trans-Tasman cricket history lesson.

Watson stirred the pot ahead of the two sides' World Twenty20 clash in Dharamsala, reminding NZ of their woeful record against Australia in big games.

The two teams have played a total of 15 World Cup and Champions Trophy matches, with NZ having won just three of them.

"We'll certainly be letting them know of that as well, because they're going to have to be at their absolute best to beat us," Watson said earlier this week.

Speaking on the eve of Friday's match, which starts at 8.30pm AEDT, Taylor pointed out what happened in the most recent ODI series between the sides.

"It was nice to host the Chappell-Hadlee series (last month) and win it," Taylor said.

"Hopefully we can take a little bit of confidence from the way we played.

"Ish Sodhi bowled very well in Hamilton, got a few big wickets, so I'm sure he'll have a lot of confidence and good memories from the last time he played Australia."

Legspinner Sodhi dismissed Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell in that series decider.

Smith echoed Watson's thoughts in his pre-match press conference.

"In big games, we have probably got a little bit of wood over them," Smith said.

"It's a new game and a new tournament, it's about coming out here and executing our skills well.

"If we do that hopefully we'll be on the right end of it."

Taylor conceded Australia had enjoyed "a lot of success against us in a few games".

"But at the same time with the trans-Tasman rivalry we like to bar up and it gets the best out of our players," the batsman said.

"They're like the big brother I guess.

"These are totally foreign conditions to what we played on at Eden Park and the MCG (during the 2015 World Cup).

"It's a new team, with players who didn't even play in that game. They'll be looking forward to the big occasion."