India eye another big win vs New Zealand (Preview)

Brimming with confidence after a convincing victory in the first One-Day International (ODI), limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will eye another big win when favourites India take on New Zealand in the second match of the five-match rubber at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here on Thursday.

With the conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla favouring the spinners, the hosts will bank on their last ODI performance where Kedar Jadhav and experienced leggie Amit Mishra ran through the Kiwi's middle and lower order.

It is also expected that Dhoni will not make any changes to the playing eleven as each player seemed like complementing each other in the last match.

Star batsman Suresh Raina will miss the second ODI against New Zealand as the southpaw is still recovering from a bout of viral fever.

In the batting department, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Dhoni had decent starts in the last game and are expected to score big runs in the second game.

The bowling department has settled down into a nice rhythm as pacers and spinners chipped in with vital breakthroughs when needed.

Sent into bat in the last ODI, New Zealand would have been disappointed to be bowled out with 37 balls still remaining in their innings so skipper Kane Williamson will likely make some changes in the top order.

Apart from Tom Latham, batsmen Martin Guptil, Ross Taylor and Williamson looked clueless against the Indian bowlers and will have to come good if they want to match India at Ferozeshah stadium.

In the bowling department, Pacer Trent Boult will likely be included in the squad to support Tim Southee to trouble the Indian batting line-up. Spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi had also found it hard to bowl on the flat Dharamsala track. But on the Ferozeshah wicket both spinners will like to make their case stronger as conditions there will support the spinners.

The squads:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper), Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kedar Jhadav, Mandeep Singh, Amit Mishra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Matt Henry, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Tim Southee.

--IANS

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