Team India look to finish tour on a high as New Zealand eye series win

As India battle New Zealand in the longer format of the white ball game for one last time on the tour, all eyes will be on the Hagley Oval for the grand finale where the Kiwis will be hoping to walk away with the bragging rights of the series. The visiting Men in Blue will be desperate to end the fray 1-1.

India got off to a swashbuckling start in the second contest at the Seddon Park where Shubman Gill continued his hot run while Suryakumar Yadav brought out his A-game after Shikhar Dhawan’s early departure. However, the heavens had other plans for the Men in Blue as it cracked open not once but twice to wash out the contest.

In the preceding encounter, Team India went forth with just two changes where they got in Deepak Hooda in place of Sanju Samson, hoping to add some variety to the bowling attack while including Deepak Chahar in place of Shardul Thakur to prise out some early movement. It will be interesting to see if India stick to the same line-up, keeping in mind that the surface at Hagley Oval is known for generating significant lateral movement which can help the fast bowlers early in the innings.

The batting unit of India would more or less be the same considering the decency that they have shown in recent times, even though the inclusion of Sanju Samson still remains a point of debate amongst Indian cricket fans.

New Zealand will like to add more precision to their bowling unit which has failed to subdue the Indian batters until now. The Kiwis will definitely be riding high on some imperious batting strength led by the experienced likes of Devon Conway, Kane Williamson and Tom Latham. The inclusion of Finn Allen also provides the early boost that the Blackcaps would want to go their way when they are up against the mighty Indians, especially with the fate of the series still on the line.

Venue Watch:

A total of 22 ODI matches have so far been hosted by the Hagley Oval and in a pretty even exchange, 11 games have been won both batting first and second. The average first innings score is a pretty decent 247 while the average second innings score is 197.

Head-to-head:

Matches played: 112

India: 55

New Zealand: 50

Match Details:

India vs New Zealand

Hagley Oval

30th November 2022

7:00 AM IST

Squads:

India:

Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Umran Malik

New Zealand:

Kane Williamson (Captain), Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Adam Milne, Tim Southee