Hyderabad: India face a stern test against New Zealand in the three-match ODI series, beginning here on Wednesday. Ishan Kishan had to sit out of the Sri Lanka series despite scoring the fastest double hundred in the history of ODIs, against Bangladesh in the preceding series. The Men on Blue were dealt a blow after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out with a back injury.
Ishan to return to playing XI
Shubman Gill, who was rewarded for his consistency and picked ahead of Ishan to open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, made the most of the opportunities with scores of 70, 21 and 116 in the Sri Lanka series. No changes are expected to the opening combination against the Black Caps but KL Rahul's unavailability due to personal reasons opens up a slot for Kishan as he is also expected to keep wickets. Kishan has batted in the middle-order thrice in the 10 ODIs he has played, therefore the adjustment should not be an issue.
Sublime Virat Kohli
In a World Cup year, every game is significant and India would aim to build on the gains from the Sri Lanka series though the performance of their opponents was underwhelming to say the least. The big takeaways for India from the Sri Lanka series was the performance of the top three and Mohammed Siraj's ability to pick up wickets with the new ball. Like Gill and Virat Kohli, Rohit also looked in sublime touch with scores of 83 and 42 but would like to get a big hundred which has also eluded him for some time now.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain), Finn Allen, Doug Bracewell, Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner
When: January 18, 2023
Where to Watch: Star Sports 1 , Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 2, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada
Live Streaming: Hotstar
Timing: 1:30 pm IST onwards
