3 changes India must make in the third ODI against New Zealand

With a whitewash of New Zealand in the five-match Twenty 20 International (T20I) series, team India were high on confidence going into the ODI assignments. But two back-to-back defeats in the ODIs have brought the all-powerful Men in Blue back into the ground.

It’s not that Virat Kohli’s men have fared poorly in the ongoing three-match series, the fact is New Zealand have unlearned the mistakes from the T20I series and have hit the visitors with all their might to come on top in all the departments.

The Indian batters put on a top-class show of power hitting and posted a mammoth total of 347 only for the Kiwis to chase it with ease. The second match saw the touring bowlers ripped the New Zealand middle-order apart. But the home team’s bowlers nullified their efforts with a more aggressive approach against the star-studded Indian batting.

Though Kohli has already said that ODIs in this year, which will have a T20I World Cup later, holds little importance to him, he will definitely be looking to avert the embarrassment of a series whitewash. In order to avoid another defeat, India might bring some changes to the Playing XI.

Here are the players who can be introduced in the third ODI at the Bay Oval on Tuesday:

1. Mohammed Shami

The run that Mohammed Shami is currently going through in all forms of cricket can well be the form of his life. In five white-ball matches in 2020, the pacer has already taken 9 wickets including two in T20Is against New Zealand. Also one must remember it was his heroics with the ball in the last over that helped India take the third T20I to a super over and eventually win it from a losing position.

Also, what was more baffling about Shami’s absence from the second ODI is the fact that he was the leading wicket-taker of 2019 in 50-overs cricket. Kohli needs to understand that he is India’s best wicket-taking option at the moment in limited-overs cricket and dropping him from a do-or-die match has come at a hefty cost. 

And in India’s last ODI series against Australia before coming to New Zealand, he took the most number of wickets (7), at least two more than anyone. The 29-year-old must be replaced with Shardul Thakur who has done little and conceded more than 46 runs for a wicket.