
India's right-arm leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Ross Taylor and wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham in quick succession to put India in a dominating position in the first ODI at McLean Park, Napier.
Kedar Jadhav too managed to take a wicket, thanks to a brilliant catch by Kuldeep Yadav. After 24 overs, Kiwis score stands at 107 for the loss of five wickets.
Opting to bat, the host lost Martin Guptill and Colin Munro for five and eight runs respectively. Both the players suffered the same fate and were clean bowled by Shami. Meanwhile,skipper Kane Williamson is going strong but requires a partner at the other end to put up a decent target for India.
Speaking after winning the toss, Williamson said, "Looks a good surface here and we want to put a score on the board. We know India are a good chasing side but we want to put runs on the board and I'm sure the surface will play the same throughout. Just the one spinner - Mitch Santner is back and also Doug Bracewell is in. It's about balancing the side, seam-bowling all-rounder is needed and that's what Bracewell comes in. I think it will be a fair pitch regardless of whether you're bowling seam, spin or batting. We were good in the SL series but want to keep improving. Looking for a good series to be played in the right spirit."
India, on the other hand, recently ended the Australia tour by creating several historic records.
Talking about their strategy for today, skipper Kohli said, "the bowlers have played a major part in us being a top team than the batsmen really. It's a batsmen's game and the crowd come in to see fours and sixes. I feel that our side is very balanced at the moment with good depth in batting and bowling. Pretty relaxed with where we stand as a team."
"It's going to be a competitive series. New Zealand are a good side and they play with the right spirit. They are a side that everyone must look upto in terms of carrying yourself on the field. Mutual respect is always there between us. Our motivation to win games remain the same irrespective of opposition. We're not going to have any incidents," Kohli concluded.
Teams:
New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami