IND vs NZ: Rain washes out 3rd ODI in Hamilton; India retain 2-0 lead in five-match series

Rain had its final say during the washed-out 3rd ODI between India and New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday, allowing the visitors to maintain their 2-0 lead in this five-match series. With that, New Zealand’s 11-match series-winning streak, the second-longest in men’s ODIs, has also ended, with only two One-Dayers in Mount Maunganui remaining over the weekend.
The two teams will then play two Tests in Wellington and Christchurch, starting November 19.

Rain came down hard the afternoon before the match and barely stopped. Despite that, the ground was in the best order for the scheduled game to go ahead, with the ground staff taking little time to get the pitch ready whenever the downpour stopped on Tuesday.

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Following a slight delay to the 3 PM start local time, Indian captain Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bowl first, making no changes to India's winning XI. New Zealand, however, made just one forced change, bringing in Matthew Fisher for injured Blair Tickner for the 3rd ODI. The game was reduced to 40 overs a side, with a packed-out crowd at Seddon Park hoping for some action. Much to everyone’s disappointment, the rain persisted throughout, forcing the on-field umpires to call off the game.

Playing XIs -

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep Singh

New Zealand: Will Young, Tim Seifert, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy and Matthew Fisher

Meanwhile, the Hamilton ODI was Gill’s final ODI match on this tour, as he now leaves the squad to prepare for the two Tests that follow. T20I captain Shreyas Iyer will lead India in the remaining two ODIs at the Bay Oval, where the weather is likely to be better.

The fourth ODI will take place on Friday and the fifth and final one on Sunday.