India vs New Zealand, Live Cricket Score, Third ODI in Mount Maunganui: India Look to Seal Series
Catch all the live action from the third ODI between India and New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Cricketnext.com.
Preview: India will look to complete a series win when they take on New Zealand in the third One-Day International (ODI) at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Monday. The Virat Kohli-led side currently lead the five-match series 2-0 and a win in the next match will render the fourth and fifth ODIs dead rubber encounters. The previous ODI, played at the same venue, saw India register a comfortable 90-run victory thanks in large part to spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Kuldeep ended the match with figures of 4-45 while Chahal took 2-56 and the two have caused plenty of issues for the Kiwis in the series thus far. They have taken 12 wickets between them so far this series and their form away from home in conditions not best suited to spin bowling, makes for ominous reading as the 2019 World Cup looms. Kuldeep averages 18.49 away from home as compared to his career average of 20.11 while Chahal averages 22.13 overseas against a career average of 23.75. But it isn’t just their ability to regularly take wickets that makes them such a threat in ODIs – they are also difficult to score against during the middle overs. "Kuldeep and Chahal are one of our key assets in the middle-overs when it comes to bowling. They're two talented wrist-spin bowlers. Most teams find it difficult to score against them, and once we put runs on the board, batsmen have to take risks against them and that works for us," India all-rounder Kedar Jadhav had said after the second ODI. It isn’t just the spinners who are bowling well though. Mohammed Shami has struck five times in the series thus far while Bhuvneshwar Kumar got two key wickets in the second ODI, meaning India’s bowling line-up poses threats across the board. This means that for New Zealand, the challenge ahead is to not only figure out how to best counter the two spinners but also how to build partnerships at the top of the order so as to be able to get big scores, something that hasn’t happened in either of the previous two games. In the first ODI, skipper Kane Williamson was the lone man to put his hand up and take the fight to the visitors. The second match saw almost every top order batsman get a start but none of them could go on to convert that into a big score.
“If we had kept wickets in hand we could have been in the chase but these are lessons that we need to learn going ahead,” Williamson had said after the second ODI. Coach Gary Stead echoed similar sentiments while speaking to the press after the game, stating that the side needed to build partnerships and that the top order needed to step up to the challenge. For India, the only issue to emerge out of the previous match was the lack of firepower in the middle overs that could have seen their first innings score touch the 350-run mark. The middle-order has been an issue in recent times but with MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu and Jadhav all contributing with the bat in the second game, India will hope that the issue is now well on its way to being solved. There’s also the matter of reintegrating Hardik Pandya back into the side. The all-rounder had missed the first two ODIs due to suspension but is now part of the squad with his suspension having been temporarily lifted. It is entirely possible that Pandya is brought into the XI straight away but given recent performances and question marks over his match fitness, his inclusion in the team is not guaranteed. Should India seal the series on Monday, one can expect team management to indulge in some rotation for the last two ODIs. But while New Zealand are currently down, they are not yet out and it would be foolish to discount the home side just yet.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, K Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson(c), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor
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