If the forecast is to be trusted, rain won’t follow India to Mount Maunganui. And that is the best news to come out of a series between two evenly matched sides that has been disrupted far too many times by inclement weather.
India, leading 2-0, can’t lose this series. But that doesn’t mean this series has been won yet. Zealously guarding a home record that for the last seven years has remained unscathed, New Zealand must be sniffing an opportunity to win the last two ODIs in Mount Maunganui and square the series. Under a new captain in Shreyas Iyer, India’s job is to keep building on their momentum, starting with the fourth ODI on Friday.
Considering the slight change in personnel, it could be a slightly tricky proposition though. Shubman Gill and KL Rahul have joined the Test squad, but Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have stayed back.
Deep Dive
Why are India favourites to win the fourth ODI against New Zealand?
What batting-order choices does India face in the fourth ODI?
How could Auqib Nabi be effective in New Zealand conditions?
Kohli has struck runs but not Rohit, while Iyer seems once again plagued by the short ball. Expect some more spunk down the order in the form of Ishan Kishan, with the possibility of Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad entering the foyer of one-day cricket.
{{/usCountry}}Kohli has struck runs but not Rohit, while Iyer seems once again plagued by the short ball. Expect some more spunk down the order in the form of Ishan Kishan, with the possibility of Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad entering the foyer of one-day cricket.
{{/usCountry}}It leaves India in a slight conundrum about the batting order if Kishan opens with Rohit, followed by Kohli and Iyer. Earlier in the series, Axar Patel was sent at No 6, ahead of Rahul, a strategy based purely on the insurance Rahul brings to the table as an all-weather anchor.
In his absence, Gaikwad becomes the most viable candidate to anchor the middle order but it remains to be seen if India are still open to sending Patel ahead of him. Gaikwad takes a little time to open up and the thinktank would be wary of sending him too late. Adding Varma to this order would be a heist considering it would reduce India’s bowling strength and they won’t want that at this juncture.
The fourth ODI at Bay Oval is an opportunity to finish the job, ideally with the bowling specialists India have brought. Enter Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj, both of whom have puzzlingly not bowled a single delivery in the white-ball series so far.
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Siraj could finally get a game now that Anshul Kamboj has left, but it remains to be seen if Iyer pairs Patel with Kuldeep. To Iyer, this is much more than an administrative promotion.
Not only is he being asked to work with several players who have been on the fringes for some time, Iyer himself has been battling a psychological war with the spongy bounce at New Zealand. That tactic might again be deployed in the fourth ODI, though the pitch at the Bay Oval isn’t a drop-in surface and is getting considerably more sun compared to the tracks in the previous three ODIs.
That should also be good news to New Zealand, whose decision to split the ODI team has prompted the return of opener Finn Allen at the top of the batting order. Allen and Seifert are a thing in T20, and the same could be expected in one-dayers as well.
Beyond the bragging rights of the series is a larger context difficult to ignore. With the 2027 ODI World Cup approaching, neither side can afford to treat the remaining two one-dayers as merely a bilateral engagement. India need to identify and establish a spin bowling hierarchy.
The fast bowlers already given a good workout, focus needs to be trained on the allrounders bit. If Naman Dhir is to be persisted with, maybe an out-of-turn batting promotion would do him a world of good. Likewise, Auqib Nabi too needs to have more overs under his belt.
Nabi’s debut at home (against West Indies) was forgettable, but much better displays at Auckland (0/33) and Wellington (2/31) must have calmed him. Advice from Kohli, Rohit and Gill have helped too.
“Here, you have to depend more on the seam movement. Because the top level batsmen play swing. So, that was their feedback (Kohli, Rohit, Gill),” said Nabi. “Here, if you do scramble seam or hit the deck, there is a chance to get more wickets here. That is what they told me.”
With so much going for Nabi, it’s hard to fathom that he won’t bowl in the fourth ODI as well. The same goes for Siraj, who India must be thinking of warming up soon keeping in mind the Test series next week. It’s why despite the Test split, India are favourites to add to their gains in this series. New Zealand have home advantage, but little else going for them right now.