The first of the 5 match India-New Zealand ODI series begins in Dharamsala on Sunday when the mantle of captaincy will change hands from Virat Kohli to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Brimming with confidence after a clean-sweep in the Test series, Team India would obviously look forward to carry on their dominance over New Zealand in the shorter format too. The pressure will be high on Dhoni as India need to beat New Zealand by a 4-1 margin to claim the third spot in the ICC ODI rankings. The Kiwis are currently ranked third with 113 points while India are at fourth with 110. The pressure on Dhoni will be more also because the Indian team will be without three of its key players — Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami — all of whom have been rested keeping the gruelling season in mind.Both the teams have played 93 matches against each other so far with India recording 46 wins while New Zealand notching 41 victories. Though India had more wins, New Zealand won four of the last five ODIs against India. One match was tied.
News On AIR | October 15, 2016 6:21 PM
India to take on New Zealand in 1st ODI in Dharamsala tomorrow