After suffering a 7-wicket defeat in the first ODI match against New Zealand, the second ODI match on Sunday becomes a do-or-die game for the Indian cricket team and in order to win that, the Shikhar Dhawan-led side will need to correct the mistakes in Auckland.
Shikhar Dhawan and his boy . posted a total of 306/7 in 50 overs, thanks to the half-centuries by captain Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, and Shubman Gill. Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 80 off 76 balls for Team India in the match. However, the side failed to defend a challenging 306-run total as they lacked a sixth bowling option. The Kiwis were 88 for 3 at one stage but captain Kane Williamson and Tom Latham stitched a colossal 22-run stand, taking the game away by a storm.
In order to level the series 1-1, the Indian cricket team would require making some changes to the playing XI. Speaking about the same, former India opener Wasim Jaffer opined that having Deepak Chahar in the line-up would add more depth to the batting line-up.
In a conversation with ESPN Cricinfo, Wasim Jaffer opined that Kuldeep Yadav may get a chance in place of Yuzvendra Chahal but Rishabh Pant won’t get replaced. He said: “We may see Kuldeep Yadav playing in place of Yuzvendra Chahal. I think the Chinaman bowler brings more mystery to the table. Also, maybe Arshdeep get replaced by Deepak Chahar because then you will have depth in the batting. Chahar can swing the ball and since he adds strength to batting, the top-order batters can play more fearlessly,”
He added: “Deepak Hooda is indeed a tempting option, but I don’t think he would replace Rishabh Pant who is irreplaceable, especially in this format,”
Notably, the stand-in skipper Dhawan has never lost an ODI series as the captain of Team India and would like to maintain the spree in New Zealand as well.
