The last time India lost a bilateral series at home was in March 2019, to Australia. The Men In Blue have since then thrashed every opposition who have visited the Asian country.
After hammering Sri Lanka 3-0 in the ODI series, Rohit Sharma’s team take on New Zealand for 3 ODIs, winning the firtst ODI in Hyderabad.
India have a few players missing: Bumrah, Jadeja, and Shreyas Iyer are out due to injuries while Axar and KL Rahul are unavailable due to personal reasons.
India’s ODI squad against New Zealand: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.
As India put emphasis on this New Zealand series, the 3 ODIs are more important for a few players who have not cemented their spot in India’s ODI squad, let alone the XI. As the 2023 World Cup approaches, a few players would want to put up impressive performances and show signs of progression.
Here are 3 Indian players for whom the New Zealand ODI series is very important:
Yuzvendra Chahal
Ever since being dropped after the 2019 World Cup, Yuzvendra Chahal’s performances have been inconsistent, and, to be honest, dipping and disappointing. He lost his place in the T20I team, and didn’t get to play a single game in 2 T20 World Cups.
Now that Kuldeep Yadav is also back from injury and loss of form, and Kuldeep is performing brilliantly, weaving his magic that we saw pre-2019 WC, Chahal’s place in the XI is under threat with the likes of Axar, Jadeja, and Sundar contending for the spinning all-rounders spots.
In ODIs, Chahal bowling average was an ordinary 37 in 2020. In 2022, where he played 14 ODIs, taking 21 wickets and looked in good rhythm, Chahal’s bowling average got better to 27. However, the opponents he bowled to majorly – the likes of South Africa, England and West Indies – the batters of those aren’t really good players of spin bowling either.
In his only ODI of 2023 so far, Chahal was smoked by the Lankan batters for 58 runs in 10 overs with 1 wicket that too of tailender Hasaranga.
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav has been in sensational form in T20I. Based on his astonishing form in the shortest format, the selectors have also picked him in the ODI and Test squads. While there have been debates over his inclusion in the Test squad, everyone believes that Suryakumar would be able to crack ODIs and would be a crucial part of India’s 2023 team.
At the moment, though, Suryakumar hasn’t been able to cement his place in the ODI team – he averages a mediocre 29 in 17 ODIs – while Shreyas Iyer has cemented his place at number 4. Even in his dream T20I form in 2022, SKY averaged only 26 in 13 ODIs in 2022.
With Iyer ruled out of the New Zealand ODIs, Suryakumar Yadav should get to play in all 3 games in the middle-order. This is a great opportunity for Suryakumar to prove to everyone that he can hack ODI cricket too, like he did with T20Is.
Shardul Thakur
After being dropped from the Sri Lanka ODIs, Shardul Thakur has been recalled for the New Zealand ODIs as Axar Patel is unavailable and, notably, Shardul’s biggest spot contender, Deepak Chahar, is out injured.
In 31 ODIs, Thakur has 44 wickets, but he is an expensive bowler, leaking at 6.2 runs an over. It is his lower-order batting – average of 20 and strike rate of 107 in ODIs – that gets him in the XI often.
He had a decent 2022 too – 22 wickets at 29 in 16 ODIs, batting average of 20 and strike rate of 93 – but Thakur will now have to be more consistent with the ball, especially be more effective in the death overs to challenge Deepak Chahar strongly for a place in the XI.
