India’s former MS Dhoni is not playing in the ongoing third One Day International against New Zealand. Subsequently, Dinesh Karthik is donning the wicketkeeping gloves for the India National Cricket Team. Meanwhile, Dhoni has returned back to sublime form after he had struggled to get going in the recent past.
Dhoni was the Man of the series in the three-match ODI series against Australia. The talisman batsman scored 193 runs in the three matches and batted at the top of his game. He also scored three consecutive fifties to get back his Midas Touch.
However, MS Dhoni has a sore hamstring which has ruled him out of action for the third ODI at Bay Oval. India made one more change into their playing XI as they brought back Hardik Pandya in place of Vijay Shankar.
Virat Kohli said at the time of toss, “The same thing, we would’ve wanted to bat first. Under the lights, we felt the ball came on better. We were quite satisfied, I personally would like to get the scoring rate up. In the last game, we could’ve got to 340. A couple of changes. MS has got a sore hamstring, Karthik comes back. Hardik comes in place of Vijay Shankar. It’s brilliant, especially if you look at our away performances. It’s great to have two guys who can pick wickets in the middle overs”.
On the other hand, MS Dhoni had stroked a brilliant quickfire knock of 48 runs off just 33 balls to add finishing touches to India’s first innings. Thus, he was able to power the side to a par score of 324 runs.
Meanwhile, India is up 2-0 in the ongoing series and would like to take an impregnable lead in the series. New Zealand has already lost two wickets and Indian bowlers have once given a good start.