The one-day leg of the tour begins tomorrow by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

---

Player:	BB McCullum, SR Tendulkar, IK Pathan
Event:	India in New Zealand 2008/09

---

DateLine: 2nd March 2009

 

New Zealand even though have won the T20 series against India they will be starting as the underdogs while the Indian team will be starting off as the favourites for the one-day leg of the tour. The T20 series was won on the back of some sensible batting from the Kiwi batsmen while the Indian batsmen used a more cavalier approach. The Kiwi bowling attack can be best described as decent bowling attack which adheres to line and length and sticking to the basics, while the Indian bowling attack possess one of the best new ball attack in the world cricket comprising Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma which provides the team the cutting edge.

 

Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram returns to the ODI fold after missing the Chappell-Hadlee trophy due to injury. Indians got a view of dangerous Jesse Ryder can be in the second match of the T20 match as he unleashed some stunning blows which included a huge first ball six off Pathan when New Zealand started their chase. Oram will in all possibility play a batsman as his injury prevents him from donning the bowling duties though there is some possibility that he might be used in short bursts by Vettori. Guptill has looked solid and it must be evident to Indians from the T20 matches that he can shift his gears at will. Kyle Mills will be making his comeback and it will be interesting to see the bowling composition of the team as to whom they have to leave out.

 

For India Sachin Tendulkar makes a return to the ODI fold after prefering to sit out from the fixtures so as not to disturb the team rhythm and now with the T20 over, Sachin will return to the top of the order to open the batting in the company of Sehwag. Ishant Sharma looks to miss the first ODI due to an injured shoulder. The spotlight will be on Irfan Pathan though as he had a terrible outing in the two T20 matches. Though he looked good with the bat he looked out of depth in the bowling department.

 

India are yet to show that they have started to panic while New Zealand are still keeping a low profile after the win in the series. The ODI leg promises to be an interesting affair between these two teams.

 

Teams (From):

 

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha.

 

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Iain O'Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kyle Mills, Grant Elliot.

 

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen, Tony Hill.

 

Third umpire: Gary Baxter.

 

Fourth umpire: Evan Watkin.

 

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle.

 

Match starts at 6.30 am (IST).