New Zealand shocked many to take the first ODI against India on Sunday and they head to Pune for the second match of the series on Wednesday knowing full well that if they pick up another win they will secure the spoils with a game to spare.
India go into the second game fully aware that if they don’t win the game they will no longer be able to win the series and that was not a position they were expecting to be in when the three games began.
India
Quite simply, India did not put up enough runs in the opening match of the series and that is something they will be looking to make up for in what should be decent batting conditions here in Pune. They bowled fairly well but without the mammoth total on the board New Zealand were always on easy street in their run chase.
If they are going to get back into this series then India will need to put up much better scores in their top order. In fairness to them they ultimately did well to post the score they did having been 71-3 at one stage in their innings. It might be that chasing is their best route to success especially if there is dew around.
New Zealand
You have to give New Zealand plenty of credit. They always seem to come up with a game plan which surprises the opposition whenever they go away from home. This time it was dropping Tom Latham into the middle order and that was a move which worked out a treat as his century formed the foundation for their excellent run chase.
It was not all about the batsmen for the Kiwis in that first match though. They set the tone right from the start with the ball. They got early wickets, never let India get away from them in the middle of the innings and then held their nerve when the big shots came at the end of it. It was a really good all-round performance.
Team News
India might look to switch around their batting order to get maximum effect from the likes of Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni while one of the leg spinners could make way having been largely ineffective in Mumbai.
New Zealand have absolutely no need to change anything after their solid first win of the series. Expect them to be unchanged unless there are any late and unconfirmed illnesses and things.
MCA Stadium
This will be just the third ODI to be held at this Pune venue. The venue is more known for being the home of the Pune Warriors when they were in the Indian Premier League. Both matches here have seen the first innings score go over 300. India lost to Australia but beat England. New Zealand play here for the first time.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
We saw in the first match that India are nothing like certainties to win this match. In fact I don’t think the winner will be visible until after the toss as you have to think whoever chases on what is a small ground will have a sizeable advantage which should be converted into victory.
With that in mind I will head to the side markets for a bet. The sixes let me down in the first match when I fell a couple short but I fancy with a win under their belt New Zealand will be more expansive with the bat in this match and also India left a few behind in that opening ODI too. Given all that I’m going to take a chance on there being 13 or more sixes in this match.
There were 23 sixes on this ground when England and India met here earlier in the year and as long as New Zealand lay another good platform in this match I fully expect us to reach the required 13 sixes on what is a very small ground.
Tips
Back 13 or more sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
