New Zealand vs India 2019: India's Predicted XI for the ODI series

After the successful completion of the tour to Australia, another challenge awaits Team India in the form of New Zealand. The Men in Blue will play the Blackcaps in five ODIs followed by 3 T20Is starting the 23rd of January 2019. This series is expected to be a much tougher one than the Australian affair as the Kiwis have been playing some good cricket of late at home and away.

While the focus will be on winning the series, India will also want to test out various combinations in the ODI format keeping the World Cup in mind. The management will hope to give all the players a good run out there in the middle and arrive at a conclusion. Over the course of five games, most of the players in the squad could get a go in at least one match.

Here is the Predicted starting XI for India in the New Zealand ODI series:

Openers (Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan)

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan will be the two openers for the series without a second thought. Sharma had a good series in Australia where he scored one century in three games. It is important for him to learn from his mistakes and get better when they play in New Zealand. The right-hander succumbed to poor shot selection in the last two games of the series. He’ll hope to perform with better consistency in this series.

With regards to Shikhar Dhawan, he looked in good touch during his brief stay out in the middle. But, he failed to capitalise on the starts on most of the instances which was disappointing. The left-hander will have a huge challenge in front of him with the swing that will be on offer for the pacers in New Zealand. It is important for him to spend more time in the middle and help the team get bigger totals.

Middle Order (Virat Kohli (C), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav)

Virat Kohli, undoubtedly, is India’s best man at number three. The Indian skipper scored 153 runs in the three games in Australia and will have a much bigger role to fulfil in New Zealand. He will be assisted by Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni in the middle-order. Rayudu hasn’t had much of game time in the recent past. He looked rusty while playing against Australia and it is important for him to hit the right chord ahead of the World Cup 2019.

As Kohli suggested earlier, he prefers MSD batting at number five. Hence, the wicketkeeper-batsman could be back at the position. He will have Kedar Jadhav for the company to finish off the innings. Although it is a bit unfair, Dinesh Karthik might have to sit out initially. Karthik has played some domestic cricket in between and has got enough of match practice. However, the other players need more time in the middle before they get back to their best.

All Rounder (Vijay Shankar)

In the absence of Hardik Pandya, the team will have to bank upon Vijay Shankar to fill in the all-rounder’s spot. The Tamil Nadu cricketer has been in some great form in the last few games that he played for his state team and India A. In his ODI debut against Australia, Shankar bowled six overs and gave away only 23 runs. Given that Ravindra Jadeja hasn’t performed really well in Australia, Shankar could well be the first-choice pick for the all-rounder slot.

Bowlers (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami will continue to be the go-to seamers for India in New Zealand as well. With eight and five wickets respective in three games against Australia, these two did good enough to find a spot in the eleven. Both these players are expected to play all the five games on the tour.

Also, India will want to try out the strategy of playing both the spinners together in conditions that don’t assist spin. While Kuldeep Yadav had a decent series against the Aussies, Yuzvendra Chahal was truly exceptional in the only game that he played. These two are capable of tying down the opposition in the middle-overs and complement each other well. The management might have a look at Mohammed Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed in the later stages of the series.

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