New Zealand elect to bowl in third India ODI

Captain Kane Williamson said batting was likely to become easier as the match wore on

By AFP
February 11, 2020

MOUNT MAUNGANUI: New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl as they chase a series sweep against India in the third and final one-day international at Mount Maunganui on Tuesday.

Captain Kane Williamson, who missed the first two ODIs with injury, said batting was likely to become easier as the match wore on.

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"It´s a new surface and I guess there´s a few unknowns, but we´re hoping there may be a little bit of dew later on," he said.

Williamson said he was pleased with the way the Black Caps had bounced back from a 5-0 drubbing in the Twenty20 series to claim the opening ODIs.

"Staying in the fight when we´re under pressure is something we pride ourselves on and to get a couple of good results against a fantastic side in India has been really pleasing," he said.

"Hopefully we can continue doing some of those good things."

Williamson replaces Tom Blundell in the batting line-up, with spinner Mitchell Santner in for allrounder Mark Chapman.

India captain Virat Kohli was unfazed at losing the toss, saying he would have chosen to bat regardless.

"It looks a hard surface with good grass on it and we want to put a total on the board, as I´ve spoken about in the past," he said.

"This is something that we´re keenly looking to improve. We don´t really have anything to lose so we can just go out there and play some positive cricket."

India have made just one change, calling up Manish Pandey in the middle order to replace Kedar Jadhav, who failed to fire in the opening two matches.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Hamish Bennett.

India: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (capt), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini.

Umpires: Chris Brown (NZL), Langton Rusere (ZIM)

TV Umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

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