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dented India’s progress with the scalps of Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav in an over before Shreyas and Sanju Samson led the recovery.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to field first against India in the series opener. Williamson talked about sticking to ODI blueprint and says the players are looking forward to the series. India captain Shikhar Dhawan said he would have bowled first too but has no problem batting first either. He feels these ODIs present youngsters with a good opportunity to prove their credentials.

After a year-long dosage of T20 cricket, it’s time to shift focus on the 50-over format as the ODI World Cup 2023 is just a few months away. India and New Zealand will also get into the groove with the 3-match series starting Friday in Auckland.

India, ranked third in the Men’s ODI rankings, have achieved automatic qualification for the World Cup next year by virtue of being hosts. It has been a year where their first-choice players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah haven’t been consistent starters in the ODI series, largely due to the hectic cricketing schedule.

Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan will be taking over the captaincy mantle yet again and, in all probability, will open the innings with Shubman Gill. The duo have amassed three-century stands in eight ODIs this year and would be hoping to push their cases with sparking performances in the matches against New Zealand.

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Suryakumar Yadav would be aiming to carry his superlative T20I form and 360-degree strokeplay into ODIs while Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, and Deepak Hooda would form the middle-order. Hooda can also be the handy sixth bowling option, something which India have missed of late, and can form the spin attack which is a three-way battle between Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

In the pace bowling department, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur could be tipped to form the bowling attack. But there is a chance for Arshdeep Singh, India’s find in T20Is this year, to be given a debut ODI cap, and the same goes for Umran Malik too.

New Zealand, on the other hand, will be hoping that their talismanic skipper Kane Williamson comes into his best self in ODIs. Williamson has struggled to get the desired acceleration in T20Is. But with his ability to spend a lot of time in the middle, he can use that to his advantage and get big scores in ODIs.

(With IANS Inputs)

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