Unfortunately, in ongoing India vs New Zealand series 2019, the first three matches of the Netmeds One-day International (ODI) series witnessed no contest whatsoever. The Men in Blue thoroughly dominated the Black Caps in all three departments, that too in their backyard. Here we’re with the match preview for the Hamilton contest.
Such has been the prominence of the World No.2 ranked ODI side led by dynamic Virat Kohli that left Kiwis as mere spectators. At least, we’re hopeful Hamilton as a venue could emerge as the happy hunting ground for the Kiwis. On the other side, India with a change of guard will be aiming to annihilate the hosts in the penultimate ODI on Thursday (January).
As the Men in Blue have already bagged the series by taking an unassailable lead of 3-0, the visitors could test their bench strength in the remainder of the games under the helm of interim leader Rohit Sharma.
New Zealand would be happy with the way Ross Taylor has stepped up, so as, Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal did the damage with the ball, as Mohammed Shami bowled brilliantly alongside pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni is expected to warm the bench following a sore back. He eventually missed the third ODI at the Bay Oval, where he was replaced by Dinesh Karthik. So far, Dhoni has turned the clock back to make his bat talk following Sydney backlash.
The Kiwis selection has already introduced all-rounder Jimmy Neesham and leg-spinner Todd Astle and this show how India has done their basics to keep mounting pressure on the opposition.
So far so good, the visitors’ openers had shown the promise before middle-order showed much promise to take team home comprehensively in all three games.
However, the Black Caps have struggled as their openers failed to provide an early impetus. Also, the hosts’ bowlers seemed to have lost the fizz in between.
India vs New Zealand 2019 – Match Preview, Hamilton:
Date and Time: 31st of January 2019, 7:30 AM IST.
Telecast (Where to Watch): Star Sports Network (in English and Hindi) including HotStar and Jio TV.
4th ODI Venue: Seddon Park in Hamilton
Black Caps’ Track Record: The Black Caps played five matches against India at the Seddon Park in Hamilton in which they won four and a solitary game on March 11, 2009, by 84 runs.
Since February 1981, Kiwis have overall played 29 ODIs. They’ve sealed victory in 19 ODIs and lost eight games. Eventually, the two games culminated on a no result.
Pitch Conditions: New Zealand often has housed the small grounds, but it doesn’t mean that batters have often reaped the rewards.
The bowlers have risen to the occasion to rule the roost. However, Hamilton is a surface where batsman would get a free hand to score runs. The fast bowlers could extract the juice from the surface.
The host could find themselves in the tangle with the way India spinners have had bowled so far.
Weather Conditions: The weather for Hamilton is partly cloudy, but it would be sunnier than what appeared to be at the Bay Oval in the last two fixtures.
With the temperature hovering around 29-degree Celsius, the humidity would read as 63 per cent, whereas, the precipitation will be 10 per cent.
The wind will blow at the 16 kph. So, it means it would be a perfect day for the absorbing cricket even though it is more of a dead rubber.
India vs New Zealand 2-19 – Match Prediction, Hamilton:
India has no pressure to play for. The visitors will go hard and the hosts. However, the Black Caps won’t hold back after losing the series. They will undoubtedly like to spoil the party of high-flying India.
We could expect an exciting clash between the two top-quality teams. But again the change of heart suggests Kiwis could break the shackles and for that, they have to play their A game.
India vs New Zealand 2019 – Line-up for Hamilton ODI:
New Zealand’s Predicted Playing XI: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson.
India’s Predicted Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Khaleel Ahmed.
Stats to achieve:
- Overall, Team India’s interim skipper Rohit Sharma will feature in his 200th ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
- Rohit has a chance to surpass former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly regarding hundreds. The southpaw Ganguly has slammed 22 tons during ODI career, whereas, Rohit has 22 centuries to his name in 199 ODIs.
- Ravindra Jadeja has scored 1990 runs in 147 ODIs. He is ten short to scale 2,000 runs. Also, he has a chance to surpass Irfan Pathan (173) owing to the wickets tally. So far, the slow left-arm orthodox spinner has claimed 171 scalps under his belt in the 50-over format.