Indian team will start preparations for next year’s ODI World Cup, Dhawan will lead India’s team against New Zealand in the upcoming ODI
The Indian cricket team, which has been criticized for adopting an outdated approach in the T20 format, will also begin preparations for next year’s 50-over World Cup with a three-match ODI series against New Zealand starting on Friday. India had suffered a 0-3 series defeat at the hands of New Zealand in 2020 under Virat Kohli and the team would be looking to forget the past defeats and start afresh. With just 11 months to go for the start of the ODI World Cup in India, the series starting on Friday will give everyone an initial ‘idea’ about India’s middle-order and bowling attack.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, talismanic batsman Virat Kohli, team management darling KL Rahul, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and ODI all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are missing out on five of India’s senior players in this series and hence it is somewhat unknown Will go in which direction the team is moving forward. All these senior players will now have to play more and more ODI cricket, starting with the Bangladesh series. There will be a lot of change in the team composition after his return. Shikhar Dhawan is leading the team in the absence of these senior players. He has scored almost 1000 runs in ODIs in the last two years. In the last two years, he has played only in this format. a
To put it in perspective, both Kohli and Rohit have played only a third of the ODIs as compared to Dhawan as he focused more on Tests and T20s. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill proved himself as an opener in ODIs. He averages over 57 runs per innings and has a strike rate of over 100 in all the ODIs he has played so far. In such a situation, India will have three players Rohit, Dhawan and Gill as openers. Rahul has been playing in the middle order in ODIs. India also have Shreyas Iyer in the middle order who has been consistent despite having trouble playing short deliveries. Suryakumar Yadav is in excellent form at the moment and if he stays fit then he cannot be dropped.
Sanju Samson also cannot be ignored for long while it would not be right to leave out Deepak Hooda because of his all-round game. If we talk about the series, three ODIs will be played within five days and in such a situation, the fast bowlers will have to recover from fatigue as soon as possible. Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur can be entrusted with the new ball. Both of them will also provide the option of batting in the lower order. Arshdeep Singh can be the third option but he is playing consistently and in such a situation Kuldeep Sen or Umran Malik can get a chance. Among the spinners, Washington Sundar is likely to find a place in the playing XI.
The ground at Eden Park is small and in such a situation, Dhawan will have to consider whether to play with an additional fast bowler or have an additional spinner in the form of Kuldeep Yadav. The New Zealand team is going to remain almost the same that took part in the T20I series. Their bowling attack is very strong which includes swing specialist Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry and spinner Mitchell Santner. If all-rounders Daryl Mitchell and Jimmy Neesham are included in this, then New Zealand have enough bowling options.
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Team India: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Deepak Hooda, Shahbaz Ahmed, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Deepak Chahar , Arshdeep Singh, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik. New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Finn Allen, Devin Conway, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson. The match will start at seven in the morning according to Indian time.
