India vs New Zealand: India hope to continue dominance in 50-over format

India play New Zealand in the first ODI in Mumbai on Sunday. (Source: PTI)

The numbers speak for themselves. 3-1, 5-0 and 4-1 against West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia respectively ever since the ICC Champions Trophy final and India are quite possibly the best ODI team in the world at the moment. Even though South Africa wear the crown of the top ranked team, India can wrestle that away with a win against New Zealand in the series starting Sunday. If India win 3-0, and they are highly expected to, they would edge the Proteas in the charts.

Shift to home conditions and India’s record is equally impressive. Since the 2009-10 series against Australia, India have lost just two of 16 bilateral series played at home. These defeats have come against Pakistan and South Africa. But, that record is expected to stay safe for the year with series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the horizon.

For the New Zealand batsmen the challenge from the get go in the first ODI in Mumbai will be posed by the spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kiwi batsman Tom Latham acknowledged the difficulty that they could pose – much similar to what Australia faced and failed to successfully circumvent. “Our focus is big on spin here. We are focusing on facing more spin than seam here and finding ways to score, to hit gaps and find boundaries,” Latham told reporters in Mumbai.

For India, things are not entirely about Virat Kohli, who didn’t go all guns blazing against Australia and Shikhar Dhawan didn’t play all games either. But even as the duo didn’t star, one Mumbaikar did. Rohit Sharma scored 296 runs top score in the series including a century and two fifties at an average just below 60. Ajinkya Rahane too fared well with 244 runs which included four half centuries. He offers the option to bat at multiple slots in the side including as an opener – something Kohli acknowledged in the pre-match press conference.

Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have created a strong pool of spinners, says Virat Kohli

“He’s (Rahane) definitely grabbed his opportunities as the third opener. As I mentioned there was K L (Rahul) as well competing for the (opening) spot. But Jinks (Rahane) has performed well, stood up and taken his chances. That’s how the dynamics of a teamwork when you have four guys who play in a similar position and obviously one of them will have to miss out as only two can play in the XI. We don’t want him (Rahane) to confuse too much by making him play in the middle order because you need to find your game in ODI cricket. You need to understand how to go about things in ODI cricket and he has always been solid at the top of the order because of his technique and he likes playing there. It gives him freedom to go after the bowlers. So as I said we don’t want to confuse him, he is in a happy space and he knows whenever someone is not going through a good phase or there is an injury, he is there, right at the door steps waiting to play a game whenever the team requires him to,” said Kohli on Saturday.

Hardik Pandya has been the star of Indian team in the past two series – debuted in Tests in Sri Lanka and has become a vital cog in the limited overs too. He and MS Dhoni played vital role in two ODIs to keep Australia at bay and take India towards the winning line. If India continue to fire on cylinders as they did against Australia, their neighbours aren’t going to stand much of a chance in the first ODI at Wankhede.

At home India are the strongest team in the world, says Kane Williamson

New Zealanders will pin their hopes on the senior members in the batting department to give them some hope. Former skipper Ross Taylor, who scored a cracking century at the Brabourne Stadium against the Indian Board President’s XI in their second practice game is an important member in that plan as are openers Martin Guptill and captain Kane Williamson. Tom Latham, too, got things underway brightly with a century in the practice game.

It would be an interesting battle of pace attack on both sides as the combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah go head-to-head against Trent Boult and Tim Southee. Which one fares better on the Wankhede track, where New Zealand are playing India for the first time, remains to be seen.

Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, George Worker and Ish Sodhi.