India and New Zealand aim to clinch ODI series

Kanpur: Coming from a six-wicket victory, India will look to defeat New Zealand in the third and final One-Day International to clinch the series at the Green Park here on Sunday.

The series is currently level at 1-1, with the New Zealand taking lead in the initial match and the hosts levelling things in the second.

India will heavily rely on skipper Virat Kohli to lead the side from the front in the batting department along side opener Shikhar Dhawan, middle-order batsmen Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Panya who have looked in good nick throughout the series.

Batsmen Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav will only add further depth to the Indian batting.In the bowling department, Kohli will fancy including wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI, who belongs from the host venue to impose threat on the opposition. Yadav was replaced by Axar Patel in the previous match.

However, pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will spearhead the bowling attack. Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, Patel and Yadav along side all-rounder Pandya will look to apply breaks on the Kiwis batting in the middle overs.

New Zealand who started the series on a positive note will look to bounce back and clinch the series under the likes of experienced batsmen Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.

Middle-order batsman Tom Latham who has proved his mettle in the series will be one of the key in the visitors batting.

In bowling, the Blackcaps will hope experienced pacers Tim Southee and Trent Boult to provide their side with early breakthroughs.

Spinner Mitchell Santner will be the key to halt the flow of runs for India in the middle overs.

Teams from

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor, Tim Southee, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (captain), Adam Milne, Colin de Grandhomme, Colin Munro, Trent Boult, Tom Latham (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Santner, Henry Nicholls, George Worker, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Glenn Phillips, Tom Bruce.

Stats and trivia

• Virat Kohli needs 83 runs to become the sixth Indian player -- to score 9000 runs in ODIs.
• The last time India lost a bilateral series at home was against South Africa in 2015.

Match facts
Sunday October 29, 2017
Start time 1330 local (800 GMT)