India
New Zealand
After comfortably beating Sri Lanka in the one-day international series 3-0, Team India will now shift their focus to New Zealand. IND vs NZ are all set to face each other in the three-match ODI series starting Wednesday.
Visitors on the other hand are also coming with a positive frame of mind after beating Pakistan 2-1 in the ODI series in their own backyard. The series is going to be a battle against two top teams who will look to topple each other which according to the top bookmakers in India will be an intense battle.
Going by the individual forms – Men in Blue is stronger than the Kiwis. Likes of Virat Kohli, Shubhman Gill, and Mohammad Siraj are in the form of their lives. Other batters and bowlers are also chipping in here and there. Meanwhile, Black Caps' bowling can be a huge threat in this series.
Virat Kohli will surely be the pick of the batters and one can bet on him scoring yet another ton as he is in amazing form. Our experts also believe that India will come out on the top in the first ODI.
The betting tip is...
IND will Win
IndiaNew ZealandVirat Kohli is coming into the series after scoring two centuries in three matches against Sri Lanka. Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma are also in solid form along with allrounder Hardik Pandya. KL Rahul is not available for the ODI series as the middle-order batter is on leave. Wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat replaced KL Rahul in the squad but it is to be seen whether he will be given the opportunity or not.
KL Rahul will be unavailable and this might open the door for Ishan Kishan to leave his mark in the ODIs. Although KS Bharat is a proper wicketkeeper - but India are likely to go with an experienced Kishan in our predicted XI:
Predicted Lineup: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik
Kane Williamson will not be available for the series and the NZ team will be led by Tom Latham. After beating Pakistan, the Kiwi squad will be pretty confident coming to this series despite the unavailability of Williamson. The Black Caps are without the services of Trent Boult and Tim Southee but despite that, they have a pretty balanced squad who are more than capable of toppling this IND side.
NZ have made a number of changes to their squad in comparison to the one that recently took on Pakistan and even beat them in their own home. Here is the predicted XI:
Predicted Lineup: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Micheal Bracewell, Santner, Ish Sodhi, Ferguson, Blair Tickner, Dough Bracewell
It would be Indian batters vs New Zealand bowlers but in the end, we think IND batters will prove too strong for NZ bowlers. Even home conditions will favour Men in Blue.
