Tom Latham will lead New Zealand in the ODI series. (Twitter/BCCI)

India and New Zealand will meet in an ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Wednesday, the first ODI of the three-match bilateral series. This will be the first time the two teams will have met in an ODI since the World Cup semifinal last year, when a heroic partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni fell 18 runs short of taking India through to the final.

Since then, however, Team India have developed a new look. MS Dhoni has not been seen in the India colours again. KL Rahul has emerged as the lynchpin in the side. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey have proved themselves to be reliable presences in the middle order. In the bowling department, Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur have chipped in with crucial contributions when needed.

The recent T20I series in New Zealand went India’s way 5-0, the first such margin of victory in a bilateral T20I series.

The ODI series could also provide a chance for some new heroes to emerge, such as Prithvi Shaw, who has got a chance to shine because of injuries to key players like Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.

The Men in Blue are also missing Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar owing to injuries.

#TeamIndia all set for the 1st ODI against New Zealand tomorrow 💪🏽💪🏽#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/33tqOlOxvr

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 4, 2020

This is India’s third ODI assignment after the World Cup last year, having previously beaten West Indies (away) and Australia (at home).
The Black Caps, on the other hand, play their first ODI since that infamous loss at Lord’s in the World Cup final against England.

For New Zealand, inspirational skipper Kane Williamson has joined the long list of injured along with the likes of Trent Boult.
Mayank Agarwal was named as Rohit’s replacement for the ODI series on Tuesday afternoon. And skipper Virat Kohli outlined that they will stick to the strategy adopted against Australia in Rajkot, where KL Rahul kept wickets and batted at number five.

Such a move would set up India’s batting line-up with Kohli at number three and Shreyas Iyer at number four.

In the nets on Tuesday, Manish Pandey batted along with Kohli and Iyer, ahead of Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav.
If Pandey plays, the lower order will be a curious mix with Dube, Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja vying for the all-rounder’s spot.

In the bowling department, three pacers will probably be the norm once again. Kuldeep Yadav, who sat out the entire T20I series, is slated for a comeback given his performance against Australia at home.

Tom Latham will lead the New Zealand side ahead of Tim Southee who was stand-in skipper during the last two T20Is. In Williamson’s absence, they will look towards Ross Taylor for batting leadership.

The Black Caps will be rejuvenated though with the inclusion of all-rounder Jimmy Neesham while Colin de Grandhomme returns to the squad as well. Ish Sodhi is only there for the first ODI and the hosts could opt for a two-spinner attack given the slower surface at Seddon Park.

Keeper-batsman Tom Blundell and lanky pacer Kyle Jamieson are the only ones who don’t have an ODI cap to their name.

Teams (from):

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini.

New Zealand: Tom Latham (capt and wk), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Blundell, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Hamish Bennett, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Mark Chapman.

Match starts at: 7.30am IST

(With PTI inputs)

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