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Pumped India take on New Zealand as Rohit Sharma-led side won the toss and elected to bat first in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday (January 18).
Meanwhile, Indian captain Rohit made three changes to his side as he included Shardul Thakur, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the final XI. Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is also back in India's playing XI.
Right after winning the toss the Indian skipper said,"We will bat first. Looks a good pitch, little dry. We want to make sure we want to bowl under lights and defend score. We did well against Sri Lanka, but this is a different challenge. Important for us to keep the momentum going. The spirit in the team is really good. Three changes. Hardik is back, Shardul is back. SKY and Ishan are playing as well".
Meanwhile Kiwi captain Tom Latham said," Most of the squad has pretty much played a good number of games. Three seamers and two spinners today."
India's star batter Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the three-match series owing to back injury. Also, KL Rahul and Axar Patel have been given rest for the New Zealand series.
India and New Zealand are almost neck-and-neck in the head-to-head in ODIs. India have won 55 out of 113 matches while New Zealand have won 50 of them. Seven games have ended with no results, while one was a tie.
Pitch Report
“278 - average first innings score, it suggests it's a good surface. Either side (square) - 63 metres and downtown 70 metres. Not a cloud in the sky. The pitch - it's a nice straw-coloured surface, light grass but pretty evenly rolled. Batting first or batting second is immaterial. The curator says it's pretty cold in the evenings which is what we saw in the last two days. There's not enough dew to suggest that batting second is an option. It's up to the teams' makeup what they want to do,” Danny Morrison and Murali Kartik analyse the pitch.
India's Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.
New Zealand's Playing XI: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(c/wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Henry Shipley, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner.
