With the series in the bag, the Indian team would now look to inflict more pain on New Zealand as they prepare to take them on in the fourth ODI at Hamilton. Virat Kohli is rested, which makes way for Rohit Sharma to lead the side.
In the 8 matches which Rohit has captained so far, he has won 7, which is excellent for India. He was the skipper who led India to an Asia Cup triumph late last year.
He will be playing his 200th ODI for India and will be just the 14th player to join this elite list.
Best opener in the format currently?
As an opener, Rohit has been on a different planet altogether and in his last 49 ODIs, he has scored a fifty-plus score after every two innings and an ODI ton after every four innings. He averages 58.32 as an opener, which is the best by any opener with a minimum of 5,000 ODI runs.
Also, he has hit 215 sixes in his career and needs just one more to move past MS Dhoni.
The batting looks settled despite the absence of Virat Kohli, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs to step up and start being more penetrative. Yes, he has the most wickets (65) by an Indian pacer post World Cup 2015, but his strike rate is 40.8, which is not very good. Shami has been excellent with the new ball in the recent past, and this could put pressure on Bhuvneshwar, especially when Jasprit Bumrah makes a comeback.
The average score at Hamilton over the last innings has been 282, which suggests the batsmen will have a party, but when conditions favour the bowlers, they can get the ball to hoop around. Trent Boult took 6 for 33 against Sri Lanka at the same venue back in 2017 and New Zealand would love a repeat of the performance.
The venue has not been a happy hunting ground for India as they have managed to win just a solitary match out of the 5 matches played at the venue.
Kedar Jadhav, who has been a welcome addition to the Indian side, now needs 33 runs to complete 1,000 ODI runs for India. He will be the joint 11th fastest to reach this landmark along with K Srikkanth and Sachin Tendulkar.
