Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of the fourth One-Day International (ODI) between India and New Zealand at Ranchi. India lead the series 2-1 in the five-match series and they can seal the series with one game to spare in the fourth ODI. India won the previous match at Mohali with ease thanks to a magnificent century from Virat Kohli, who was unbeaten on 154. MS Dhoni too got some runs under his belt and he along with Kohli set the match beautifully for India. Despite of that loss, New Zealand are still very much alive in the series, but will have to win this match, if they fifth and final ODI at Vishakapatnam is to be of any consequence. Live Cricket Scorecard: India vs New Zealand, 4th ODI at Ranchi
India completed a 3-0 clean sweep against New Zealand in the Test series. They suffered a minor setback in the second ODI at Delhi, which India lost by just six runs. India have retained the same squad for the final two ODIs. The only absence is that of Suresh Raina, who is yet to recover from illness. India still have a strong bench strength with the likes of Dhawal Kulkarni, Jayant Yadav and Mandeep Singh patiently waiting for their chance. Dhoni is not someone who likes to tinkle with the winning combination, but may look to give one or two a chance in this game. Not surprisingly, Kohli has been the best player for the series so far, having already scored s fifty and a ton in the three ODIs so far. Amit Mishra with eight wickets is the leading wicket-taker of the series so far. Kedar Jadhav has been a surprise package with the ball, having ntched up six wickets already in the series. He had just one List A wicket before the series and is now called upon by Dhoni when he needs to break a partnership.
As far as New Zealand are concerned, opening batsman Tom Latham has been in good form. He has scored a couple of fifties in the three matches so far. He also became the first New Zealand batsman to carry his bat through the innings, when he did it in the first ODI at Dharamsala. Other than him, Kane Williamson struck a crucial century at Delhi to help his team to a winning total. Other top-order batsmen like Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor are yet to fire.
Since the ICC World Cup 2015, India have failed to win an ODI series, barring the recent series in Zimbabwe. They have suffered series defeats at the hands of Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia. Having gone 2-1 up, India have a perfect chance to win this series. New Zealand on the other hand have won their last three ODI series against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and most recently against Australia – all at home. The win at Delhi was New Zealand’s first ODI win in India in 13 years and a win at Ranchi will give them a golden chance to win the series in India, something that has not happened a lot.
Squads:
India: MS Dhoni (c & wk), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, Jayant Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (c), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling (wk)
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