 The first game of the Micromax tri-series will start from the 10th of August at
Dambulla and will see India and New Zealand fight it out. It will be a
day-night game.
The tri-series will have each team play each other two times before the top
two sides feature in the final of the tournament. India has had a good three
weeks in Sri Lanka for the Tests and another ten days for the Asia Cup, and
will go into the game a tad more prepared than the New Zealand side.
Click for Live Score Card of India Vs New ZealandIndia will understand that this is one of the last few ODI series that they
will play before the start of the World Cup and will need to make it count.
The good thing from India's point of view is that there are a few youngsters
coming through and will look to fight for those places that will be up for grabs
for the World Cup. This will mean that despite the absence of the likes
of Sachin Tendulkar (rested), Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh (injured),
the Indian side will have something to look forward to.
India should open the batting with Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik
and should have Virat Kohli somewhere in that top-order too. With Suresh Raina
and Yuvraj Singh in the squad, one would expect them to play a part,
while MS Dhoni will bat at as a floater in the order, to make it six batsmen.
There should be Ravindra Jadeja and one other spinner out of R Ashwin and Pragyan
Ojha. Three other quick bowlers should be in the side, Praveen Kumar, Ishant
Sharma and Ashish Nehra to form their playing eleven for the first game at least.
This will obviously mean that the likes of Saurabh Tiwary, Rohit Sharma and
Abhimanyu Mithun will miss out and not be a part.
For New Zealand, things get even more interesting. The side will be without
their main captain, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum, both of whom
are on a paternity leave. This will mean that they are led by the inexperienced
Ross Taylor, while Jesse Ryder has missed out again due to an injury.
Gareth Hopkins should take on the mantle of wicket-keeping, whereas Nathan
McCllum should be the sole frontline spinner for the Kiwis. The one player to
watch out for, if he gets a chance is Kane Williamson and Jacob Oram
should play a vital role as well. The worry for the New Zealanders will be their
batting on tracks that are quite different from the ones back home.
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