India have made two changes to their team for the fourth ODI against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. Shubman Gill makes his debut for Men in Blue having been called up after strong showing in domestic cricket and has big shoes to fill in Virat Kohli’s absence. He becomes the 227th player to represent India in ODIs.
The other change sees Khaleel Ahmed replace Mohammed Shami who has been rested from the India side. MS Dhoni continues to be on the sidelines for his sore hamstring. India lead the five-match series 3-0 and the two dead rubbers allow an opportunity to test the bench strength with Australia slated to tour India and World Cup on the horizon.
Rohit Sharma, playing his 200th ODI game and standing in as captain in Kohli’s absence, said at the toss, “Couple of changes, Shubman Gill replaces Kohli, Khaleel Ahmed replaces Shami. MS is still not fit. He has shown a lot of promise (Gill), he has played here and was the Man of the Series in the U-19 World Cup. Highly rated and we wanted to see what he could offer to the team.”
Hosts New Zealand also made multiple changes to their lineup with two already confirmed in Todd Astle and Jimmy Neesham recall into the squad in place of Doug Bracewell and Ish Sodhi. The changes made by New Zealand who are looking to come back into the series with pride at stake are, Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Astle and Matt Henry coming in for Colin Munro, Bracewell, Sodhi and Lockie Ferguson.
A misfiring New Zealand will look to make amends in the final two ODIs before the action shifts to T20s and skipper Kane Williamson stated as much at the toss. “Few changes for us, Southee, Munro and Ferguson are missing out, Nicholls is opening with Guptill. It’s a great opportunity for the lads at the top of the order. We need to keep improving as a squad, focus on areas and game plan,” he said.
New Zealand XI: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Colin de Grandhomme, Todd Astle, Matt Henry, Trent Boult
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik(w), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, K Khaleel Ahmed
