India tour to New Zealand 2019 [Preview]
India is all to tour New Zealand to play five ODIs and three T20I games in the month of January. The visitors are going to kick-start their campaign with five-match one-day series that will begin from 23rd January. On the other hand, New Zealand will be looking to maintain their winning streak in home conditions.
It will not be easy for Virat Kohli and co. as New Zealand have a formidable record at home in recent times.
India have formidable top-order in limited-overs cricket with Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli plundering a lot of runs last season.
Rohit Sharma has been in excellent form in limited-overs cricket over the past couple of years. Last year, he scored 1030 runs at an average of 73.57 with five-centuries to his name. Sharma will be hoping to continue his good form in this year as well.
Indian Captain Virat Kohli produced mind-blowing performances in limited-overs cricket last season. He scored 1202 runs in 14 matches at an average of 133.55 with six hundreds to his name.
Shikhar Dhawan also had a good run with the bat last season. Ambati Rayudu cemented his place in the XI with the string of credible performances against West Indies.
The team management will be concerned by the loss of form of wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni who managed to score only 275 runs in 20 matches at an average of 25.00. Certainly, Dhoni will need to lift his game with bat as cricket pundits have called for youngster Rishabh Pant to be included in limited-overs setup.
Dinesh Karthik played well in a couple of games played for India last year. Lokesh Rahul and Kedhar Jadhav are also quality players waiting on the fringes in case any batsmen in the batting order gets injured and sidelined due to various reasons.
In the bowling department, Khaleel Ahmad, Jaspreet Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are pace options for the series. Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravendra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are three spinners included in the squad for the five-match one-day series.
On the other hand, New Zealand have done well as a unit in limited-overs cricket over past couple of years.
Martin Guptill and Colin Munro will be looking to get New Zealand off to rampant starts in the one-day series. Guptill has been an experienced player that has produced mesmerizing performances in limited-overs cricket.
Captain Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have done well for New Zealand over the years. Last season, Taylor topped the batting charts for New Zealand in limited-overs cricket.
Henry Nicholls, James Neesham and wicket-keeper Tim Seifert will be looking to do well in this series.
On the bowling front, Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell, Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult are four frontline seamers for the side in this series. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi is the only spin option included in the squad for the series.
The five-match one-day series will begin from 23rd January in Napier. The second and third game of the series will be played at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. The fourth and fifth game will be played at Hamilton and Wellington respectively.
The side will play three-match T20I series that is slated to begin from 6th February. The first game of the series will be played in Wellington. The second and third game of T20I series will be played in Auckland and Hamilton
