India and New Zealand will face off in the second ODI in their five-match series at the Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi on Thursday.
Following a 3-0 victory in the Tests, the Indian team cruised to a comfortable six-wicket win in the first ODI at Dharamsala. With a 1-0 lead in the series, MS Dhoni’s men will want to keep the momentum going.
On the other hand, New Zealand are in dire straits and captain Kane Williamson will be hoping that the worst has already come and gone for them. In desperate need of a win, expect the Kiwis to put up an improved showing in a format they really enjoy.
DATE, TIME, VENUE INFO
Date: 20 October, 2016
Time: 12:00 GST, 13:30 local time (IST), 08:00 GMT
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi
WHERE TO WATCH, LIVE STREAMING INFO
TV: UAE – OSN Sports Cricket HD, India – Star Sports 1, HD 1 (English), Star Sports 3, HD 3 (Hindi), UK – Sky Sports 3 HD
Online streaming: hotstar.com, Hotstar app (in India only)
LIVE blog: Sport360.com/livescore
TEAM NEWS, SQUAD, PREDICTED XI
INDIA SQUAD: MS Dhoni (c), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav.
MS Dhoni and co. are on a high after comfortably dismantling the Kiwis in the first ODI at Dharamsala. They say never change a winning combination and Dhoni might be tempted to keep faith.
With Raina out again due to viral fever, expect Kedar Jadhav to keep his place in the team. The Maharashtra batsman did very well with the ball – picking up two wickets – and stayed unbeaten with the bat in the victorious chase on Sunday.
The Indians might be tempted to play Jayant Yadav as the second spinning option ahead of Axar Patel, who failed to pick up a wicket in the first ODI.
PREDICTED INDIA XI: Rohit, Rahane, Kohli, Pandey, Dhoni (c/wk), Raina, Pandya, Axar, Mishra, Yadav, Bumrah.
NEW ZEALAND SQUAD: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Matt Henry, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, BJ Watling, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
Going into the second ODI at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Ross Taylor’s form is a major area of concern for the Blackcaps. The 32-year-old was dismissed for a duck in the first ODI and hasn’t scored a single half-century from seven innings on this tour so far.
Despite that, expect the New Zealand think-tank to count on Taylor’s experience and keep him in the side.
Pacers Trent Boult and Matt Henry were rested for the Dharamsala ODI, but expect both to come back for this game. Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner are likely to retain their places in the side.
PREDICTED NEW ZEALAND XI: Guptill, Latham, Williamson (c), Taylor, Anderson, Ronchi (wk), Neesham, Santner, Southee, Henry, Boult.
FORM
(Last five matches – with latest match first)
INDIA: W W W W W
NEW ZEALAND: L W L W W
MATCH PREDICTION
India to win, but surely this will be a closely-contested encounter unlike the previous matches on this tour.