🏏India vs New Zealand, 1st ODI - RGI Stadium, Hyderabad - 18/01/23 🏏

🏏India vs New Zealand, 1st ODI - Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 18/01/2023 at 1:30PM IST 🏏

Can New Zealand challenge India's strong home record?

Three days after beating Sri Lanka 3-0, Rohit Sharma's men are up against their next opponent

It isn't spoken about as much as their remarkable home record in Test cricket, but India are perhaps just as dominant in ODIs in their own conditions. Since the start of 2010, they've played 25 bilateral home series, and won 22 of them.

This record takes on extra significance in 2023, given that India are building towards hosting a World Cup. They've begun the year in ominous manner, sealing a 3-0 series victory over Sri Lanka with the biggest win in ODI history.

They could now be in for a stiffer challenge, though. New Zealand have been among the most competitive ODI sides to visit India of late - their two most recent series here in 2016 and 2017 both went into deciders - and they're fresh from winning 2-1 in Pakistan.

But with Kane Williamson and Tim Southee rested for this series and with Trent Boult's international career in freelance limbo, this New Zealand side is light on experience, particularly in Indian conditions. They are in for quite a task, particularly their bowlers who are up against a batting line-up that has posted totals of 373 and 390 the last two times India have batted first.

India's questions: The Kishan dilemma, Kuldeep vs Chahal

But New Zealand will know India can be beaten, even in subcontinental conditions, and they might look at Bangladesh - who beat India 2-1 at home just over a month ago - for clues as to how to do so. Quality spin that attacks the stumps could be a key ingredient.

Either way, win or lose, New Zealand will want to take away as many insights as they can before they return for the World Cup. A strong performance now could put them in just the right space to mount a serious title challenge in October-November.

Team News

India

There's no update on Yuzvendra Chahal's shoulder injury he sustained while diving in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, which has now kept him out for two straight games. Axar's absence will allow India to try out Washington Sundar for an extended period in that no.7 slot. Shardul Thakur may get a look in at some point in the series maybe ahead of Umran Malik, who picked up key middle-overs wickets but bowled at an economy of more than 6.8 in both games against Sri Lanka and was rested for the third.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Umran Malik/Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal/Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj

New Zealand

Henry Nicholls could be the front-runner to replace Williamson in the XI from their last game, while in the bowling department the toss up would be between the returning medium-pace allrounder Dough Bracewell or Blair Tickner. All three last played for New Zealand between April-July 2022.

Probable XI: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (C, wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner/Dough Bracewell, Lockie Ferguson

India vs New Zealand Pitch Report

The pitch in Hyderabad has generally been an excellent one for batting. A high-scoring match seems to be on the cards. Winning the toss and batting first should be the way forward.  Hyderabad pitch likely to aid spin

In six ODIs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, spinners have averaged 38.70 and conceded 4.96 runs per over, both significantly better than the fast bowlers' corresponding figures (though it must be noted that they bowl more overs in the difficult phases) of 40.84 and 5.74. In the most recent ODI here, in March 2019, India won by six wickets after their spinners - Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav - returned combined figures of 27-0-110-3 to restrict Australia to 236. Expect spin, therefore, to play a significant role on Wednesday. The weather is set to be clear, with a maximum temperature of 31 degrees Celsius.

India vs New Zealand Weather Forecast

There is no chance of rain and temperatures will hover around the 31-degree Celsius mark. Humidity won’t be on the higher side, making the conditions near perfect for a game of cricket.

India (IND) vs New Zealand (NZ) Head-to-Head:

Overall - 113 | India - 55 | New Zealand - 50 | Tied - 1 | N/R - 7

In India:

Overall - 35 | India - 26 | New Zealand - 8 | Tied - 0 | N/R - 1

Probable Best Performers from IND vs NZ

Probable best batter: Virat Kohli

Kohli has been in terrific form and he can get lethal especially once he feels settled on the pitch. His willow has done most of the talking for him lately with centuries coming in three of his last four ODI innings. The batter will look to play another vital innings against the Kiwis in the forthcoming clash.

Probable best bowler: Mohammed Siraj

Siraj has been unplayable as he has got his side the major breakthroughs in the crunch moments. He relished a sensational outing in the recently concluded series against the Lankan Lions. However, if he wants to cement his place in the World Cup squad, the pacer will need to maintain the same consistency.

Stats and trivia

Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan are the joint-fastest India batters to the 1000-run mark in ODIs. Both took 24 innings to get there. Shubman Gill, who currently has 894 runs from 18 innings, has a chance to claim the record during this series.

The last time New Zealand played an ODI in India without Tim Southee or Trent Boult in their line-up was in December 2010.

Since the start of 2022, Mohammed Siraj is the leading wicket-taker among bowlers from Full Member teams. He has taken 33 wickets in this period, at an average of 19.87.

India will become the No. 1-ranked ODI side if they win the series 3-0. If they also win the T20I series, and then beat Australia by a 2-0 or 3-1 score line or better in the Test series in February-March, they will become the No. 1 side across formats.

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging me. 🤗  

Best wishes to both the teams, extra prayers for India's victory. 😃

Pitch Report | Danny Morrison and Murali Kartik: 278 - average first innings score, it suggests it's a good surface. Either side (square) - 63 metres and downtown 70 metres. Not a cloud in the sky. The pitch - it's a nice straw-coloured surface, light grass but pretty evenly rolled. Batting first or batting second is immaterial. The curator says it's pretty cold in the evenings which is what we saw in the last two days. There's not enough dew to suggest that batting second is an option. It's up to the teams' makeup what they want to do.

Injuries and unavailability have forced some changes to the line-up. SKY hasn't hit the ground running in this format but he has a great opportunity now with Shreyas out injured. 

Looks like Ishan Kishan will take KL's spot. Eyes will be on Washinton Sundar's batting this series. 

The team will breathe easy if he makes valuable contributions with the bat because he's a quality bowler anyway. Will be interesting to see who is picked in Kuldeep v Chahal.

Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Kane Williamson and Ish Sodhi are all missing for the visitors. This will give some of the newbies a chance to prove themselves especially as all teams prepare for the World Cup. For India, meanwhile, KL Rahul and Axar Patel are out on personal leave, and Shreyas Iyer is out with injury. That makes it easier for the Indian management to fit Suryakumar Yadav in the packed middle order. Some of the other players who've come in for this series are: KS Bharat, Shahbaz Ahmed, Rajat Patidar and Shardul Thakur, who played a Ranji game in between.