IND vs NZ 3rd ODI: Proud home record at stake as India face New Zealand in series decider

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INDORE: With their dominance in Tests on home soil now a thing of the past, India will hope for the ageless duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to fire in unison and complement the highly consistent KL Rahul as they strive to protect their proud ODI record at home against the resolute Kiwis in the series-deciding third ODI here on Sunday. While Kohli and KL Rahul’s sensational form is highly encouraging, the hosts would be worried by the poor returns of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who appeared to be too slow in the air as he ended up conceding 1-82 in 10 overs.

Mohammed Siraj press conference: gearing up for series decider vs New Zealand

Going by India’s intense threehour training session on Saturday, ace left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh could be back in the XI, probably at the expense of Prasidh Krishna. It will be interesting to see if India hand a debut to batting allrounder Ayush Badoni, a useful off-spinner, for the injured Washington Sundar, and leave out Nitish Kumar Reddy from the final XI. Reddy ended up bowling only two overs in the second ODI and was criticised for not making use of his chances by India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate. India last lost a bilateral ODI series at home in March 2023, when Australia reversed a 0-1 deficit to win 2-1. After winning their first Test series in India 3-0 in Nov 2024, New Zealand, who have travelled to these shores for bilateral ODIs since 1988, will be itching to do the same in ODIs. Considering that it’s an inexperienced Black Caps squad — eight players are touring India for the first time and they fielded two debutants in the first two matches — it’ll be a massive achievement. Pacer Kristian Clarke, who took 3-56 in Rajkot, played his first ODI in Vadodara, while left-arm spinner Jaydon Lennox made a decent debut in Rajkot, taking 1/42 in 10 overs. With his massive appetite for scoring runs against India in India in ODIs, Daryl Mitchell has proven to be a major thorn in the flesh for the Men in Blue. Mitchell’s last four ODI scores versus India in India read: 130 (127), 134 (119), 84 (71), 131* (117).

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