India vs New Zealand Warm-up Match Preview: TSR presents Predicted Playing 11, Toss prediction and Weather report for tomorrow’s clash
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The preparations for the mega ICC Cricket World Cup have begun. The Warm-up matches have commenced from Friday as each of the 10 teams will play two games each, with the main tournament set to kick- off from May 30, 2019.
On Day 2 of the Warm-up games tournament favourites India will be up against the formidable New Zealanders. While the Black Caps won their last bilateral ODI series against Bangladesh in February this year, India bowed down to the Aussies in their last series at home. The two sides will clash against each other at the Kennington Oval in London on Saturday.
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The last time these two sides met in the One-Dayers, was in the month of January. New Zealanders were defeated by the Indians 1-4 in their own backyard.
India vs New Zealand warm-up match Preview
Form Guide
The Indian side has won the last 4 of their 5 Bilateral ODI series. They were subject to some criticism when they lost their last ODI series against the Aussies at home (2-3). But the recently concluded IPL have seen most of the Indian players in some run of form. Players like Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya in the batting department were in stellar form, while Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal were also exceptional with the ball. Although players like Rohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav and Kuldeep Yadav were not in their groove for which they are known for.
For the Black Caps, their batsmen viz. Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor and skipper Kane Williamson have shown quite some form in their last ODI series against Bangladesh. Bowlers like Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner were good with the ball as well. But playing in England, and against better oppositions than Bangladesh would be a different ball game altogether for them.
India vs New Zealand- Predicted Top playing 11
Although in a warm-up match any of the 15 players in the squad can be given an opportunity at some point in time during the game, the team management always has the 11 players in their mind, who they deserve should get into their grooves, and play themselves in more than the other players.
For the Indians, it is their no.4 spot in the batting order that needs to get figured more than any other thing at the moment. So players in contention for that spot like Vijay Shankar, KL Rahul or even MS Dhoni will get to play as much as possible. It would be interesting to see who India play at the no.4 spot tomorrow.
In the bowling department, Kuldeep needs to hit his mark. So his bowling will definitely be under the scanner and will be closely monitored.
For the Black Caps, the surprise inclusion of wicket-keeper Tom Blundell, who will make his International debut will have a go tomorrow. While out of form players like Colin Munro and Colin De Grandhomme would be itching to go out and express themselves to the fullest.
India Top 11
Virat Kohli (capt), Yuzvendra Chahal, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav.
New Zealand Top 11
Kane Williamson (capt), Tom Blundell (wk), Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
India vs New Zealand- Pitch and Weather Condition
ECB have promised this world cup to break all scoring barriers, hence plenty of runs are up for grabs for the batsmen at The Kennington Oval. There might also be some assistance for the quicker bowlers.
The temperature will be around 22 degrees Celsius tomorrow at the Oval, with a partly cloudy weather. Rain is not expected to play a spoilsport.
Toss prediction
Whoever wins the toss would definitely look to bat first and garner some batting form ahead of the main tournament. The Indian team needs to test the no.4 spot, and thus would expect Kohli to win the toss and let the batsmen play themselves in without any pressure of the required rate.
Where would the match telecast?
With the official broadcaster Star, deciding to broadcast all the warm-up matches, the clash between the two sides will be broadcast live on the Star Sports network and Hotstar, and will commence from 03:00 IST.
