Kanpur: Coming off a six-wicket victory in Pune, India will look to keep up the good work in the third and final One Day International (ODI) against New Zealand as they look to clinch the series at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur on Sunday.
The series is currently level at 1-1, with New Zealand taking the lead in the opening match and the hosts drawing level in the second game.
India will rely heavily on skipper Virat Kohli to shepherd the batting department alongside opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsmen Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya, who have looked in good nick throughout the series.
Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav lend further depth to the Indian batting.
In the bowling department, Kohli will fancy including wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI, given the venue is his home ground.
Yadav was replaced by Axar Patel in the previous match.
Pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah will continue to spearhead the bowling attack in all likelihood.
Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, Patel and Yadav, alongside all-rounder Pandya, will be the ones who will be expected to keep the Kiwi batting in check in the middle overs.
New Zealand, who started the series on a positive note, will look to bounce back and clinch the series with the likes of experienced batsmen Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in their ranks.
Middle-order batsman Tom Latham, who has proved hard to dislodge for the Indian bowlers through the series, will also have a big role for his team.
In bowling, the Black Caps will hope for experienced pacers Tim Southee and Trent Boult to provide their side with early breakthroughs. Spinner Mitchell Santner will be the key to halt the flow of runs in the middle overs.
Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Bumrah and Pandya were among the five Indian players who skipped the optional practice session ahead of the series decider. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who played in Pune in place of Kuldeep Yadav, too, did not take part in the afternoon session.
It remains to be seen whether Kohli goes with the same playing XI from Pune or bring in Yadav in front of his home crowd. The chinaman had a lengthy spell in the nets and so did leggie Yuzvendra Chahal.
Among the batsmen, Shikhar Dhawan went through a long session as he batted in the nets before practising the pull shots off fast full-tosses on the outfield. India had their nets at the centre square while New Zealand had them placed on the boundary wickets.
Compared to the hosts, the visitors underwent a much longer session in the morning that went beyond three hours. Both teams hit the nets for the first time since arriving on Thursday.
After the practice, Southee said the mood in the team was upbeat ahead of the pressure game. “There was an air of excitement around the guys today at training. Obviously we felt freshened up after the day off yesterday. The series is on the line tomorrow [Sunday]. That’s what we play for and, like I said, good sides have come here and walked away empty-handed.
“It’ll be nice, I guess, to seal the series here. But India are a tough team in their own conditions as they have shown that over a while,” said the senior Kiwi pacer.
