India will resume their 2023 World Cup preparations against the No. 1 team in the world, New Zealand, in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Jan. 18
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India will resume their 2023 World Cup preparations against the No. 1 team in the world, New Zealand, in Hyderabad on Wednesday, Jan. 18, in the first of a three-match ODI series following their biggest-ever ODI victory. With only a two-day turnaround, India will be feeling confident after finishing their biggest-ever ODI victory. India is possibly just as dominant in ODIs at home, albeit it isn’t discussed as much as their great home record in Test cricket. They have played 25 bilateral home series since the year 2010 began, winning 22 of them. Given that India is preparing to host a WC in 2023, this record will have much more significance. With the largest victory in ODI history, they sealed a 3-0 series triumph over Sri Lanka to start the year in an ominous fashion.
KL Rahul’s absence due to family obligations, combined with a last-minute injury report on Shreyas Iyer, will allow the team to include both Shubman and Kishan in the XI, but the ‘keeper will most likely be playing in the middle-order. Uncapped Rajat Patidar, who was selected as Iyer’s replacement in the ODI team, is unlikely to break into the XI right away. Arshdeep has been dropped in favour of Shardul, who was previously overlooked for the Sri Lanka series, while Axar’s absence has allowed Shahbaz to earn a comeback after last appearing on the Bangladesh tour. Sundar, who can give a useful match-up against New Zealand’s plethora of left-handed batters, may edge him out though.
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Kuldeep has been in fine form but Conway too has had a good series against Pakistan. In IPL last year he had the wood over Yadav as these stats suggest, so it would be one of the most keenly awaited battles.
| Year | Runs | Balls | Outs | Dots | 4s | 6s | SR | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 37 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 336.4 | – |
| Total | 37 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 336.4 | – |
Even though Sundar is the right matchup for Latham, he has not been able to dismiss Latham yet. It would be interesting to see how Latham plays Sundar.
| Year | Runs | Balls | Outs | Dots | 4s | 6s | SR | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 17 | 21 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 81.0 | – |
| Total | 17 | 21 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 81.0 | – |
Bracewell is returning to the NZ team and he would be up against an in-form Kohli. Kohli has been brilliant against Bracewell in the past, so this time too, he would fancy his chances.
ODI
| Year | Runs | Balls | Outs | Dots | 4s | 6s | SR | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 18 | 20 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 90.0 | – |
| 2019 | 25 | 32 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 78.1 | – |
| Total | 43 | 52 | 0 | 30 | 6 | 0 | 82.7 | – |
Rohit has looked good but has not been able to score an ODI century for a while so it would be important for the team that he sees off Ferguson in the game as Lockie would be tasked with the bowling duties as the senior bowler in the absence of Southee and Boult.
| Year | Runs | Balls | Outs | Dots | 4s | 6s | SR | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 37 | 40 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 92.5 | 37.0 |
| Total | 37 | 40 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 92.5 | 37.0 |
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