New Zealand vs India, 3rd ODI, Mount Maunganui: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

New Zealand turned things around remarkably with wins in the first 2 ODIs of the series against India, at Seddon Park and Eden Park. After losing the T20Is 0-5, they have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series. The teams will now meet in the “dead rubber” third ODI, at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.

The second ODI, at Eden Park, was a tale of two lower-order resurgences. Batting first, New Zealand were reduced to 197/8 by Yuzvendra Chahal (3/58) and Shardul Thakur (2/60) – this, despite Martin Guptill’s run-a-ball 79.

Then Ross Taylor (73* in 74) continued from where he had left at Seddon Park: with debutant Kyle Jamieson (25* in 24), he put on an unbroken stand of 76 in just 51 balls. New Zealand finished with 273/8.

India, too, were dented by an early burst of wickets that reduced them to 153/7. This time Ravindra Jadeja (55) and Navdeep Saini (45) added 76, but it was never going to be enough. Jamieson, Hamish Bennett, Tim Southee, and Colin de Grandhomme all took 2 wickets each as India were bowled out for 251.

New Zealand have never whitewashed India in a series of 3 or more ODIs – though they had won 2-0 in both 1975-76 and 1980-81. They will want to make amends to that streak.

Despite the two defeats, India should be able to pull one back. After all, Bay Oval is the only ground in New Zealand where they are yet to lose an ODI.

Head to head

India have won 55 out of 107 matches the teams have faced, while New Zealand have won 48.

Key players

Kyle Jamieson (New Zealand): Jamieson took advantage of his 6’8″ frame to extract steep bounce at Eden Park. Before that, he made merry with the bat, hitting 2 sixes en route a cameo that helped New Zealand come back into the match.

Virat Kohli (India): Eight innings without a hundred is acceptable to most batsmen, but Kohli is no ordinary batsman. It is time the King stamps his authority on the series before moving on to the Test matches.

Likely XIs

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Tom Blundell, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Hamish Bennett.

India: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

Prediction

India to pull one back.