New Zealand move from Pakistan to begin a white ball tour of India on Wednesday when the two sides meet in the first of three pretty important ODI matches in Hyderabad ahead of the T20s later in the month.
We all know we are slowly creeping closer to the 50 over World Cup in this part of the world later in the year and these two sides have three matches to continue their preparation for that event, which given it is in India will be invaluable.
India
India warmed up for this series with an ODI series against Sri Lanka last week. To be fair, Sri Lanka were massively out of their depth but that wasn’t the problem of India. They could only beat what was in front of them and in two of the three matches they absolutely battered them, including in the third match at the weekend which they won by more than 300 runs. India are looking a daunting side and might only get better.
While it will be all about preparation for the World Cup from here on in, India will know the importance of getting their big players delivering top performances heading into that competition. The problem India do have is in the makeup of their bowling attack and finding the right combinations to give them the strength they will need when the tournament arrives. They didn’t really find anything out against a terrible Sri Lanka team.
New Zealand
New Zealand will head to India feeling really good about themselves having just seen off a competent Pakistan side in their own back yard. Winning that series 2-1 was impressive enough in its own right but to win it having lost the first match was a great effort and shows the character that this team has within it. If they can go and perform well in India over the next week or so then they will return to this part of the world in October as genuine World Cup contenders.
The key to that series success in Pakistan was their bowling unit. They let Pakistan get away from them in the first match but they restricted them well in the second and third games. In that third match they chased 280 down in pretty confident fashion. They won a match when posting a score and one when setting one and I always think that balance is the sign of a good team. New Zealand should be capable of laying down a challenge here.
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Team News
India will be without Shreyas Iyer for this series as he has a back injury. Rajat Patidar has been called into the squad as his replacement but it is Suryakumar Yadav who looks set to get another chance to prove his ODI credentials. Washington Sundar is likely to replace the rested Axar Patel.
Ish Sodhi has not recovered from a leg injury which he sustained in the win over Pakistan to finish the Kiwi’s tour there so he won’t play here but Glenn Phillips is fit. Kane Williamson and Tim Southee have been given the series off surprisingly.
Betting
Usually I would be looking to get stuck into the betting in a series like this but there are question marks how both teams are going to line up with one side in New Zealand resting a bunch of players and the other in India having to cope with quite a few injuries at the minute. I would imagine India will still win but if there is one thing I have learned in the recent past it is that there isn’t much joy to be had in opposing New Zealand even when things are seemingly against them.
If New Zealand are to be competitive in this match let alone have a chance of winning it then you have to think that Mitchell Santner will need to go well for them, certainly with the ball but potentially with the bat to push the total up to a decent one which he did a couple of times in Pakistan recently. Santner will know all about these Indian wickets having played a number of IPL seasons and in that time he is likely to have faced most of the bowlers he’ll come up against here. He has a performance line of 29.5 for this one which on a track which should assist the spinners might just be a little on the low side.
Tips
Back M.Santner’s Performance – Over 29.5 points for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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