India will take on New Zealand on September 30 in the third and final ODI
The Indian cricket team began preparations for next year’s ICC ODI World Cup at home with the series against New Zealand. A young Indian team lost to the Kiwis in the first ODI, as several senior players were rested after the completion of the T20 World Cup. From what was seen during the first match of the series and the 12.5 overs India was able to play before the second ODI was abandoned due to rain, there are some key areas for team management to focus on. That’s what we at DailyExpertNewsCricket look at.
- Hearty starting requirement of the hour:As we saw in the opening game of the series, both openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill, gave India a solid foundation and scored around the run-a-ball mark. Once captain Rohit Sharma returns, it is essential for the team to find out who between Rohit and Shikhar will take the attack on the opposing bowlers in the power play. The impact of T20 cricket has been huge, even on the 50-over format and most of the top ODI teams, including world champions England, are focusing on power play to get off to a big start. This reduces the pressure on the lower order to go hammer and tongue in the last 10 and also increases the chances of the team regularly scoring over 350.
- Suryakumar Yadav at Number 3: There is ample evidence over the past year that Suryakumar Yadav is currently the lynchpin of India’s batting. Therefore, it becomes essential that he face as many balls as possible to give India a chance to post big totals. His ability to attack good deliveries and make runs at a fast pace means he can lay the groundwork for big scores himself from the start. India’s timid approach in the power play cost them in the T20 World Cup, they would need to look at changes in the ODIs if they want to reclaim the crown won in 2011, even if it means dropping legend Virat Kohli to No. 4 .
- Batters who can bowl: While players like Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya are expected to return to the squad at some point, India still needs its hitters to contribute with the ball. Players like Deepak Hooda should be given more opportunities to bowl and bat so that India has 6-7 bowling options in big games.
- A robust strategy when defending objectives:India’s biggest problem in white-ball cricket is its inability to defend big totals. It is essential that the team identify bowlers and have a clear strategy to control the flow of runs. Pakistan is a good example where they have identified bowlers to bowl effectively at different stages of a match. India can take a leaf out of the neighbour’s book.
Some of these changes could be made in the final ODI against New Zealand, which will be played on November 30. It will be available live and exclusively on Prime Video. It is a great opportunity for Indian fans and viewers to watch cricket on a platform that offers some unique offers. Live cricket is made immersive and accessible with multi-lingual feeds, fantastic studio programming and an excellent set of commentators to guide fans through the series.
Prime Video also offers a one-hour English-language live pre-show before each match. The mid-innings break will feature a 15-minute show which is a recap of the first innings and a preview of the second. The live programming also includes a 30-minute post-match presentation and analysis by Prime Video’s stable of cricket experts.
Prime Video puts together a new live sports viewing experience and offers customers new features such as in-game language selector and “Rapid Recap”. The in-game language selector allows customers to seamlessly change languages (e.g. English to Hindi) without leaving the game. Customers participating in a game in progress can catch up on impressive game highlights using the “Rapid Recap” feature before automatically switching to the live stream.
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