India and New Zealand are set to cross paths in the second ODI on Saturday in Wellington, with confidence running high in the Indian camp following a breathtaking victory in the opening match. With a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, India have a big opportunity to seal the series win and further corner New Zealand, who has been utterly unable to challenge India. In the opening match for India, Virat Kohli served as the cornerstone of India’s batting attack, blasting a major knock of 74 runs to guide the team to a memorable victory.
However, India will also be looking for powerful performances from Rohit Sharma, who endured a disappointing outing in the first match, losing his wicket for a duck. Rohit will hope to put the past setback behind and come out strongly in the second game. India's bowling attack was also equally devastating, with Arshdeep Singh leading the attack impressively, claiming four wickets and creating a big hurdle for New Zealand in scoring smoothly. Gurnoor Brar and Anshul Kamboj were equally impressive in decimating New Zealand.
Meanwhile, New Zealand are reeling from the pressure of staging a comeback after going down badly in the first game. Moreover, they have suffered a crushing blow after veteran batter Devon Conway was ruled out of the remainder of the series due to concussion. The major worry for New Zealand has been their inability to maintain consistency at crucial times. If they are to threaten India, then they will need more concerted efforts so that they can level the series.
Head-to-head
Matches - 123
NZ won - 52
IND won - 63
No result - 7
Tied - 1
India possible XI: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.
NZ possible XI: Tim Seifert, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner