IND vs NZ 1st ODI: All eyes on Shreyas Iyer; Rishabh Pant ruled out with injury – Match Preview

The Indian Cricket season this year gets underway with the first of the three ODIs against New Zealand starting on Sunday (Jan 11) in Vadodara. The Men in Blue gear up for the marquee white-ball series against their old foes, a team that has often troubled them across formats. Veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return to playing the only format, while all eyes will be on Shreyas Iyer, who returns from a spleen injury he suffered in Australia in October last year. However, Rishabh Pant’s last-minute injury has dented the team’s combination ahead of the series opener. It’s time we take a look at the match preview.

Match Preview –

Team India has a few returnees in the captain and opener Shubman Gill, who recovered in time from the neck injury he suffered late last year (during the Kolkata Test against South Africa) and also Iyer, who is back after spending close to three months on the sidelines. Their comebacks will boost the team morale, which already has run-scoring machines in Rohit and Kohli at the top.

With the wicket in Vadodara said to be a batting-friendly one, the star-studded Indian ODI line-up would be waiting to make the most of it. Despite not having Pant for the New Zealand ODIs after he suffered a blow during the nets on the game eve, the hosts luckily have a backup keeper in batting mainstay KL Rahul.

No Hardik Pandya means India will field two all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, alongside playing four specialist bowlers in Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and spin lead Kuldeep Yadav.

New Zealand, on the other hand, will field a second-string ODI side, with plenty of their first-team players, including Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner, all rested. Kiwi’s highest wicket-taker last year, Jacob Duffy, is also unavailable for the ODI series, with several new faces likely to fill up the playing XI in Vadodara.

Despite all of this, the visitors will have experience in Devon Conway, Daryll Mitchell, Will Young and captain Michael Bracewell. Their bowling attack, however, would be inexperienced heading into the first ODI.

Here are the predicted playing XIs of both teams for the first ODI –

India - Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh

New Zealand - Devon Conway (wk), Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell (captain), Josh Clarkson, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Aditya Ashok and Michael Rae