Toss India chose to bat vs New Zealand
India continued to challenge themselves by bowling in the night as they won the toss and decided to bat first in the ODI series opener against New Zealand, who said they would have bowled first anyway had they won the toss.
India were always going to have a different look to their side with KL Rahul and Axar Patel taking a break. An injury to Shreyas Iyer made their selection headache easier, but the big news was the return of Shardul Thakur straight into the XI to give them some batting depth. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav both got in, Washington Sundar replaced Axar, and Thakur got in ahead of Umran Malik.
With Kane Williamson and Tim Southee rested, and Ish Sodhi injured, New Zealand brought in Henry Nicholls. Their three fast bowlers were Lockie Ferguson, Henry Shipley and Blair Tickner with Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell taking on the spin duties. Daryl Mitchell was the allrounder. With five frontline bowlers and Mitchell to support them, and with Shipley batting at No. 9, they had depth in both in both departments.
India 1 Rohit Sharma (capt.), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Ishan Kishan (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Henry Nicholls, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (capt. & wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Henry Shipley, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Blair Tickner
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
