New Zealand vs India, 2020: 2nd ODI: Match Prediction – Weather Report, Pitch Conditions, Playing XIs and Live Streaming Details

New Zealand didn’t have the greatest of outings in the T20I series, losing by 5-0 despite fighting hard. To add insult to injury, their skipper Kane Williamson also developed a shoulder injury which made him miss the first ODI at the Seddon Park in Hamilton. However, the Black Caps came out all guns blazing and beat the Men in Blue by four wickets, taking an all-important 1-0 lead in the series.

The Kiwis are now in with a chance of pocketing the series going into the second match on Saturday, February 8 at the Eden Park in Auckland. It’s the same venue where the hosts lost a couple of T20Is last month against the same opposition. India, on the other hand, would a tad disappointed after not being able to defend 347. On head to head, India have a 4-3 lead over the Kiwis in ODIs in Auckland.

Pitch and Conditions

Out of 71 ODIs, 42 have been won by the team, batting second. The two T20Is played last month also went in favour of the chasing sides. Hence, batting first can be on the tricky side. The average score in Auckland since 2010 is 278 and a high-scoring game can be expected. There are chance of rain from 3 PM to 7 PM and interruptions are likely. The temperature will be around 23 degrees.

Team Combination

New Zealand

Kyle Jamieson is set to make his ODI debut, replacing Ish Sodhi, who was included only for the opening match. Sodhi bowled only four overs in Hamilton, picking up Virat Kohli. Scott Kuggelejin has also been ruled out due to illness. Guptill has found it tough thus far after quite a few starts.

Nicholls looked in great rhythm before Kohli’s direct-hit dismissed him. Taylor and Latham are in red-hot form and will hold the key. Neesham would want to make amends after failing with both bat and ball. The Kiwis’ bowling needs to be a bit more penetrative to get the Indian batting on the mat.

Probable XI

Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (C & WK), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett, Kyle Jamieson.

India

The visitors may resort to a couple of changes after the drubbing. Shardul Thakur leaked runs at 8.89 last time and he may make way for Saini in the must-win encounter. Yadav got two wickets, but ended with an economy of 8.4 in his 10 overs. India may prefer Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of him.

Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal will be looking for big scores after getting starts on their debut. The onus will also be on skipper Kohli to shepherd the middle order. KL Rahul has done mostly everything right in the series. Bumrah needs to focus on his accuracy as he gave away 13 wides.

Probable XI

Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli (C), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur/Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal/Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah.

Probable Top Performers

Henry Nicholls – New Zealand |Virat Kohli– India

Broadcast Details

TV – Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD

Online– Hotstar

Match Timings – 07:30 IST, 15:00 local time and 02:00 GMT.

The prediction is for India to win the match.