The Sun & Play: Desperate India hope for full game in final ODI

Frustrated by the fickle weather a desperate Indian team would pray for a rainfree final ODI against New Zealand in its bid to finish on an even keel in a series that neither had context nor any major takeawaysThere is forecast of scattered showers in Christchurch and nothing can be more irritating than playing a series where the GenNext of Indian cricket hardly got any game time to show their prowessOut of five whiteball games that also includes threematch T20I series two matches one T20I and one ODI didnt yield any result and one game T20I was curtailed significantly and ended in a tie due to DuckworthLewis methodWith the series in line Shikhar Dhawan and his men would aim to put up an impactful performance at the picturesque Hagley Oval ground which has traditionally helped the seam bowlers and has an average score in the 230 range in the past few yearsThe Indian batting in first Powerplay first 10 overs has been much talked about and even though skipper Dhawan has been a prolific ODI opener over the years even he understands that to secure his place for the next World Cup his approach needs a sea changeHis young opening partner Shubman Gill however has shown more intent in shot selection with scores of 50 and 45 not out in the two gamesSo has Indian crickets current blueeyed boy Suryakumar Yadav whose three sixes in a short 125 overs of play at the Seddon Park did send the Indian supporters into rapturesBut the bigger challenge for Indian batting lineup will be to put up an above par score against New Zealand on a ground where swing bowlers have ruled the roost in the past few ODI gamesAlso readIndia vs New Zealand Play resumes as 2nd ODI reduced to 29 overs a sideAnd for that not just the openers or Surya but the likes of Rishabh Pant also needs to step up and be countedRishabhs ODI record is pretty impressive but currently the runs have dried up since the tour of England primarily in 20 over cricket and he is one player who needs to fire in order to ensure that Indian middleorder looks competitive against a quality Black Caps attackRishabhs presence and lack of bowling options among the specialist batters also effectively mean that Sanju Samson has to once again sit out like the last game where Deepak Hooda because of his allround skills was preferred over the immensely popular cricketer from KeralaSince the last match was a washout it will be interesting if interim head coach VVS Laxman decides to shuffle with the playing XI especially the bowling attack where Kuldeep Yadav is yet to get an opportunityBut to leave out either Yuzvendra Chahal or Washington Sundar will be doing them a disserviceShardul Thakur looked pedestrian in the opening ODI in Auckland and in all likelihood Arshdeep Singh Deepak Chahar and the fiery Umran Malik will continue to lead the pace attackFor the New Zealand pacers Matt Henry Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson there couldnt be a better venue to exploit the frailties in Indias batting to the fullestSimilarly the Indian bowling attack would get a conducive bowling track to ask some probing questions to the likes of Tom Latham and Kane Williamson who have proved to be the thorn in flesh during the last gameTeamsIndia Shikhar Dhawan captain Shubman Gill Suryakumar Yadav Shreyas Iyer Rishabh Pant wk Sanju Samson wk Deepak Hooda Washington Sundar Kuldeep Yadav Yuzvendra Chahal Deepak Chahar Arshdeep Singh Shardul Thakur and Umran MalikNew Zealand Kane Williamson captain Finn Allen Devin Conway Tom Latham Daryl Mitchell Glenn Phillips Michael Bracewell Tim Southee Matt Henry Adam Milne Jimmy Neesham Mitchell Santner and Lockie FergusonMatch Starts 7 am ISTThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever