New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to field first in the third and final One-Day International at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium. Both the teams have not made any changes to the playing eleven for the series-decider.
Here is what the captains said:
Kane Williamson:
“We are going to have a bowl. Certainly, more grass than we saw earlier. Don’t think it will seam as much but still there should be some help and then dew later on in the game. Whatever we do here, the wickets tend to be generally good surfaces and the team that plays the better cricket wins. It is a great opportunity for us and we want to enjoy it out there. Same team.”
Virat Kohli:
“It looks a good wicket. We would have been okay with batting or bowling first but keeping the dew in mind, maybe batting second was better. Irrespective of what we do first, we need to do it well. A few guys wanted to have some rest while some wanted to iron it out in the nets. It’s been a hectic season so far, but there is nothing more motivating than playing in a decider.”
Preview:
Both the teams will be desperate to win the game to seal the series. While India will be aiming to extend their unbeaten run in the ODI series this year, New Zealand will be eyeing their first-ever bilateral series win in India.
Both the teams have thoroughly played each other in the first two games of the series, and the decider is looking likely to be a blockbuster. Last year too, New Zealand had a chance to win their first-ever series in India, but they had surrendered meekly in the series-decider and will be looking to make amends against the high-flying hosts who are yet to lose an ODI series under Kohli.
Here are the playing eleven of both the teams:
New Zealand:
Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), Henry Nicholls, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult
India:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal