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Wellington: Their morale dented after losing the series, India would be desperate to salvage some lost pride by notching their maiden win on the tour when they take on a sprightly New Zealand in the fifth and final one-dayer on Friday before Test series begins next month.
The Men in Blue have lost much in the past two weeks, in lieu of a 3-0 series loss as also the climb-down from their number one ODI ranking.
At the Westpac Stadium on Friday then, they will be playing for more than just pride.
A consolation win will mean that the series will end at 3-1 rather than 4-0, the latter a very embarrassing score-line if it indeed comes to pass.
Even so, victory will only restore so much respectability for the reigning world champions, considering how awfully wrong things have gone for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team ever since they stepped out of home in early December.
In seven ODIs since, they are yet to win a single match, losing five and tying one (one no-result).
If they indeed want to register their first win across all formats in nearly two months, they need to view this fifth ODI in singularity and not as part of the already lost contest.
Meanwhile, New Zealand will only be too happy to change their line-up. They have successfully completed the job with one match to play, and it is a success that should be celebrated for quite some time in their cricketing ranks.
Yet, 4-0 is their obvious target against one of the top-ranked ODI sides in the world and they will look to play the majority of their best and fit players in this last match to continue to impress.
22-year-old fast bowler Matt Henry has been drafted into their squad as a late addition, since Corey Anderson and Tim Southee are both carrying niggles.
Anderson missed the last match in Hamilton and both he and Southee are in the Test squad as well, thus making this an obvious move on their selectors' part.
It remains to be seen if the untested Henry, who bowls between 140 and 145 km/hr, will be unleashed on the Indian batting like the injured Adam Milne previously.
Teams from:
New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (Capt.), Corey Anderson, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Hamish Bennett, Matt Henry.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishwar Pandey, Varun Aaron, Amit Mishra.
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Friday, January 31, 2014
Start time 1400 local (0100 GMT)
