India to bowl first in second ODI against New Zealand
Auckland, Feb 8 (AFP/APP): India won the toss and opted to bowl first in the second one-day international against New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday.
New Zealand have a new-found confidence after winning game one and India captain Virat Kohli said his side needed to recapture the intensity they had when sweeping the Twenty20 series.
Kohli said Auckland’s Eden Park suited India’s preference to chase a total.
“It looks a hard wicket. It’s pretty small ground and difficult to defend here,” he said.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said he would have preferred to bowl first but “the record chase in Hamilton was good for us. We need to do well with the bat here, build partnerships and get the runs on the board.”
Both sides have made two changes with the tall Kyle Jamieson making his debut for New Zealand in place of Ish Sodhi while Mark Chapman comes in for Mitchell Santner leaving New Zealand without a spinner.
India have rested Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadev and brought in Navdeep Saini and Yuzvendra Chahal.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Tom Blundell, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (capt), Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Mark Chapman, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Hamish Bennett.
India: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (capt), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini.
Umpires: Bruce Oxenford (AUS), Chris Brown (NZL)
TV Umpire: Langton Rusere (ZIM)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
