Big picture – India return to action after prolonged break
This might be the least relevant of the three formats at the moment, but it is also the only one that the two biggest Indian stars of the last decade now play. The format India the country is most in sync with.
New Zealand, though, haven’t got the memo. Eight of their squad of 15 haven’t played in India before. Two haven’t played any international cricket. One hasn’t played an ODI. Five have played fewer than 10. Part of it is forced: Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry and Mark Chapman are managing their return from injuries, Will O’Rourke and Nathan Smith won’t even make it back in time, Tom Latham is on paternity break, but increasingly big stars are refusing retainers with NZC. Kane Williamson is not available for this tour because it clashes with SA20.
Bilateral ODI cricket couldn’t mean any more different to two Full Member nations. And yet it is New Zealand who are on a nine-match winning streak, one short of their longest ever.
Form guide
India: WLWWLL (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
New Zealand: WWWWW
In the spotlight: Shubman Gill and Michael Bracewell
Team news: Shreyas Iyer is back
India (probable): 1 Shubman Gill (capt.), 2 Rohit Sharma, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harshit Rana, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand’s XI will look remarkably different to the one that completed the whitewash of West Indies at home. Perhaps the first call to make will be whether Devon Conway keeps wicket for the first time in ODIs. If not, Mitchell Hay will play his first ODI since April.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Devon Conway (wk), 2 Nick Kelly, 3 Will Young, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell (capt.), 8 Zak Foulkes, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Michael Rae, 11 Adithya Ashok
Pitch and conditions
On its men’s international debut, the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara will have perfect weather for cricket: pleasant temperature in the mid-20s with no rain. In the two day-night women’s ODIs there, India’s fast bowlers drew assistance under lights, winning each of them by over a 100 runs. Will that be enough to influence teams to change their minds or will there be enough dew during training to continue wanting to chase?
Stats and trivia: NZ’s poor ODI record in India
- The decider against South Africa last month was the first toss India had won in ODIs in more than two years, losing 20 in a row
- In 2024, New Zealand ended India’s dominant home run in Tests, but they have never won an ODI series or tournament in India.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
