India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI: Kiwis opt to bat amid pitch controversy

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has won the toss and elected to bat first, here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, here in Pune. (India vs New Zealand: 2nd ODI Live updates)

Reckoning that this is a good wicket and thus they want to make full use of it before the opposition does, Williamson has kept an unchanged side that won the first game in Mumbai on Sunday. (India vs New Zealand: 2nd ODI Live scorecard)

India, however, have made a change with Axar Patel replacing Kuldeep Yadav. The latter could be seen bowling on the training pitches even moments before the toss and had batted for more than half-an-hour at the nets yesterday.

There was drama since morning at the stadium on Wednesday with pitch curator Pandurang Salgaoncar charged with allowing reporters to tamper the pitch and also exchanging in conversations related to betting and match-fixing.

Salgaoncar, a former first-class player, has however been suspended with immediate effect with Mumbai Ramesh Mhamunkar, who’s here as a BCCI observer, to take over duties. Maharashtra Cricket Association president Abhay Apte addressed the media before the start of the match and stated: “I am here to just make one statement because since morning there has been some news which is appearing on the television on a very disturbing subject.”

Although there were calls and rumours for the ODI to be suspended, Apte reassured that nothing on those lines would be undertaken.“So I have to tell that the MCA, of course the BCCI too, along with the Committee of the Administrators (CoA) have zero tolerance on such subjects, so MCA will be making a detailed enquiry on what has happened or what has appeared on the television. But before we have our urgent meeting, in the capacity of the MCA President, I have taken Mr. Salgaonkar under suspension with immediate effect, and all his work has been withdrawn, including his basic membership with the MCA. The ICC observer has approved the pitch, the match will start on schedule,” he added.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult