India and New Zealand play the first of five ODIs on Sunday when they open their series in the delightful surrounds of Dharamsala. The picturesque mountain background is a cracking setting for the series to begin in front of and the cricket on show will hopefully be as good as the backdrop.
Although this is a five match series allowing room for dropping the opening match and recovering to win the series both sides will nonetheless be eager to avoid going 1-0 down which should further ensure we get a hard fought, quality game of cricket.
India
I wouldn’t say this is India’s reserve team taking the field here but it is clear from the squad which has been announced that the early part of this series isn’t top of the immediate priority list. Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja have both been left out while injuries and illnesses have taken care of Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina for this opener too.
If India are going to win this series long term then they will need their bowlers to assist the batsmen and ensure they don’t have to make the huge scores they have been needing to make to win matches in the past. They have the ability to do that of course but no side can chase 300+ every match.
New Zealand
I’m interested to see how New Zealand will play this match. I remember back to the start of the year when the World T20 was in this country and everyone thought they might struggle because the main part of their bowling attack was their seam duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult and neither hardly figured as the Kiwis played three spinners.
It will be a big call to leave either of their lynchpin bowlers out for this series opener but it would be a statement of intent that they have planned well in advance and are here to win and not just play out five friendly matches with little context or meaning to them.
Team News
As highlighted above India are without four key men for them in this match with Ashwin, Jadeja, Raina and Dhawan all out and there is no Yuvraj Singh or indeed Harbhajan Singh around for this series either.
New Zealand aren’t expected to go in loaded with spinners. In fact they will probably play the two all-rounders in Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson with Tim Southee and Matt Henry perhaps facing off for the other seamer spot alongside Trent Boult.
Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium
The Dharamsala ground will be hosting its third ODI in this match. India have played in both matches and have won one and lost one. New Zealand are playing here for the first time but they might well like the conditions they find as the wicket can assist the seamers.
The ground is at altitude so the ball flies a lot further here than at most grounds. The boundaries are small anyway but the tight air makes them play even smaller so we can expect the runs to flow throughout the match.
Betting
I’m not going to bet on the match outcome in this opening game for two reasons. First of those is because the ground is so hard to defend given the small boundaries and the altitude factor and secondly there is every chance in a day-night match that there is going to be dew in the second innings which will negate the bowling threat.
I will still go with one bet though and that predictably comes in the sixes markets where surprisingly Coral are three hits lower than their rivals and theirs is a line which I think is attackable. It is 12.5 and at odds against and that represents good value to me. There were 19 sixes in the last ODI here and with the likes of Sharma, Kohli, Dhoni, Guptill, Taylor and more on show we have the hitters to bump up to 13 here.
Tips
Back Over 12.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
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