After two successful outings in the series already, an upbeat Indian side will go in with an opportunity to seal the series when they take on New Zealand in the third ODI of the five match series at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara on Saturday. While Gambhir & Co. have done well in all the departments to secure two good wins, the Kiwis are winless in eight successive games and team morale is bound to be at an all time low. Despite the obvious pressure from so many defeats on the trot, they know they must win at Vadodara to ensure that the rest of this series does not become academic.
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The Reliance Stadium, formerly known as the IPCL Stadium at Vadodara, has only seen a handful of games since it became an official international venue. The last visitors to grace this ground were the mighty Aussies, who beat India in October 2007 and then again in the same month in 2009. That last match was a high scoring game which the Aussies barely nicked by 4 runs. India's pace bowling attack got plastered all over the park and despite a battling 68 from Gautam Gambhir (now skipper), India slid to 201/7 before Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar almost won the game for India with some late order hitting.
India:
Despite fielding a second string side, the hosts have got off to a flyer in the series with two convincing victories and will expect to seal the deal on Saturday unless the Kiwis make a dramatic comeback. At the moment, team India will be a relaxed lot with skipper Gambhir leading from the front, as he notched up an excellent century in the second ODI at Jaipur. The stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, M.S.Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh continue to be rested with Suresh Raina joining the list of absentees. This should give Saurabh Tiwary a chance to fit into the eleven that will take the field in the third ODI. It will also be Wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha’s last game of the series, as he will be replaced by Parthiv Patel for the last two ODIs of the series. Middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh will look to play a good, long innings at Vadodara and get some runs to his name in order to earn a place in the World Cup squad. He failed to convert a good start in the first game at Guwahati where he scored 42 runs and was involved in a well paced partnership with Virat Kohli.
On the bowling front, in-form speedster S Sreesanth, who has led the way with seven wickets in the series thus far, has been rested for the remainder of it and will most likely be on an early flight to South Africa for the upcoming tour. But the team is bolstered by the return of Zaheer Khan, who will look to find some rhythm on home turf for the last time before the upcoming World Cup. After missing the first two ODIs due to fever, Praveen Kumar has been declared fit and could replace Nehra in the third ODI. The Delhi bowler has been lackluster so far, and it is more likely that India will opt for a left-right opening bowling combination, especially given Kumar's ability to make the new ball swing. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has taken four wickets in the two games played, will look to add more to his wickets tally as he presses for selection as a viable alternative to Harbhajan Singh in the World Cup squad. Munaf Patel too has been very good as a change bowler and bowled well in the middle overs in both the games.
New Zealand:
The Kiwis are a worried side after having suffered seven back-to-back defeats including those in the first two games of this series. It is going to be an uphill task for them to pull things back from such a situation, but have no option but to take it a game at a time and hope their luck changes sometime soon. Captain Daniel Vettori will be well aware of the fact that a loss at Vadodara will mean yet another series defeat and will hope his side can lift themselves and produce a win.
The Kiwis should be strengthened by the return of Brendon McCullum, who missed the first two ODIs due to a back injury. He will most likely replace an struggling Jamie How and open the batting with Martin Guptill. Vettori will hope his big hitting opener, McCullum will come good early on and set the tone for his side’s much needed win. Considering his dicey back, New Zealand may opt against asking McCullum to keep wickets just yet and could play him as a specialist batsman.
In the games played so far, the Kiwis lost their plot in the middle overs where the Indian bowlers have managed to dry up the runs. Vettori will expect the likes of Taylor and Styris to improve the scoring rate in order to make a bigger push towards the end of the innings. Incidentally, New Zealand scored at more than 7 an over in the last 20 overs at Jaipur, and will believe that if they can just do better earlier on in their innings they can well compete with India on the batting front.
Their bowling contingent has been mediocre so far and Vettori needs to step it up if his side are to restrict a strong Indian batting line-up. The likes of Kyle Mills, Andy McKay and Nathan McCullum have been amongst the wickets but have all been inconsistent. A lot will rest on the experienced shoulders of captain Vettori, if the team has to outplay the home side at Vadodara and stay alive in the series.
(Click here for the Match Report)
The Reliance Stadium, formerly known as the IPCL Stadium at Vadodara, has only seen a handful of games since it became an official international venue. The last visitors to grace this ground were the mighty Aussies, who beat India in October 2007 and then again in the same month in 2009. That last match was a high scoring game which the Aussies barely nicked by 4 runs. India's pace bowling attack got plastered all over the park and despite a battling 68 from Gautam Gambhir (now skipper), India slid to 201/7 before Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar almost won the game for India with some late order hitting.
India:
Despite fielding a second string side, the hosts have got off to a flyer in the series with two convincing victories and will expect to seal the deal on Saturday unless the Kiwis make a dramatic comeback. At the moment, team India will be a relaxed lot with skipper Gambhir leading from the front, as he notched up an excellent century in the second ODI at Jaipur. The stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, M.S.Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh continue to be rested with Suresh Raina joining the list of absentees. This should give Saurabh Tiwary a chance to fit into the eleven that will take the field in the third ODI. It will also be Wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha’s last game of the series, as he will be replaced by Parthiv Patel for the last two ODIs of the series. Middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh will look to play a good, long innings at Vadodara and get some runs to his name in order to earn a place in the World Cup squad. He failed to convert a good start in the first game at Guwahati where he scored 42 runs and was involved in a well paced partnership with Virat Kohli.
On the bowling front, in-form speedster S Sreesanth, who has led the way with seven wickets in the series thus far, has been rested for the remainder of it and will most likely be on an early flight to South Africa for the upcoming tour. But the team is bolstered by the return of Zaheer Khan, who will look to find some rhythm on home turf for the last time before the upcoming World Cup. After missing the first two ODIs due to fever, Praveen Kumar has been declared fit and could replace Nehra in the third ODI. The Delhi bowler has been lackluster so far, and it is more likely that India will opt for a left-right opening bowling combination, especially given Kumar's ability to make the new ball swing. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has taken four wickets in the two games played, will look to add more to his wickets tally as he presses for selection as a viable alternative to Harbhajan Singh in the World Cup squad. Munaf Patel too has been very good as a change bowler and bowled well in the middle overs in both the games.
New Zealand:
The Kiwis are a worried side after having suffered seven back-to-back defeats including those in the first two games of this series. It is going to be an uphill task for them to pull things back from such a situation, but have no option but to take it a game at a time and hope their luck changes sometime soon. Captain Daniel Vettori will be well aware of the fact that a loss at Vadodara will mean yet another series defeat and will hope his side can lift themselves and produce a win.
The Kiwis should be strengthened by the return of Brendon McCullum, who missed the first two ODIs due to a back injury. He will most likely replace an struggling Jamie How and open the batting with Martin Guptill. Vettori will hope his big hitting opener, McCullum will come good early on and set the tone for his side’s much needed win. Considering his dicey back, New Zealand may opt against asking McCullum to keep wickets just yet and could play him as a specialist batsman.
In the games played so far, the Kiwis lost their plot in the middle overs where the Indian bowlers have managed to dry up the runs. Vettori will expect the likes of Taylor and Styris to improve the scoring rate in order to make a bigger push towards the end of the innings. Incidentally, New Zealand scored at more than 7 an over in the last 20 overs at Jaipur, and will believe that if they can just do better earlier on in their innings they can well compete with India on the batting front.
Their bowling contingent has been mediocre so far and Vettori needs to step it up if his side are to restrict a strong Indian batting line-up. The likes of Kyle Mills, Andy McKay and Nathan McCullum have been amongst the wickets but have all been inconsistent. A lot will rest on the experienced shoulders of captain Vettori, if the team has to outplay the home side at Vadodara and stay alive in the series.
