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Visakhapatnam: New Zealand team which has never produced a unified batting performance on this tour, India will face some embarrassment if the fifth and final ODI at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
As far as New Zealand are concerned, they would know Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni remain the biggest threat to their chances of winning this ODI series and making a strong statement.
When a dispirited New Zealand cricket team began the five-match series suffering a massive defeat to India at Dharamsala, it looked like the NZ were up for further humiliation.
New Zealand appeared as clueless with the bat as they did in the Test series, and their bowling remained toothless.
However, with some ordinary show by Indians with the bat in the following matches — in the second ODI at New Delhi and in the fourth game at Ranchi — the Kiwis managed to trump the high-flying hosts.
The series now moves to its final round, at the Visakhapatnam for the final ODI, where India and New Zealand have a chance to clinch it in their favour.
Kane Williamson, Tom Latham, Martin Guptill and even Ross Taylor (with his 44 in the fourth match) have chipped in, but New Zealand have never clicked together as a batting unit so far in this tour so far.
In case they bat first, New Zealand will know if they want to really pressurise the Indians they will need at least 300 runs as anything less could prove to be a walk in the park for the Indians.
But the pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult has worked very well for the Kiwis, and one wonders what difference these two would have made had the former been available for the Test series.
For India, it will be important to have Jasprit Bumrah back in the team after the right-arm bowler missed out on the fourth ODI due to illness.
The Vizag ODI could be the last opportunity for the pair of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, who have averaged a poor 24.66 in 6 ODIs so far, garnering mere 148 runs. Rahane has had a face-saving half-century in the previous ODI, but Rohit’s scores of 14, 15, 13 and 11 in the last four games has certainly worried the Indians going further into their big season.
Teams from
India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling (wk), Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Matt Henry, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee.
Umpires and referee
Ground umpires - CK Nandan and Bruce Oxenford
TV umpire - C Shamshuddin
Referee - Richie Richardson
Fourth umpire - Nitin Menon
Match facts
Saturday 29 October 2016 (day/night)
Start time: 13:30 local (08:00 GMT)
