The Indian cricket team made two changes in the line-up for the Cricket World Cup 2023 match against New Zealand on Sunday. As India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss, he revealed that Mohammed Shami will be playing their maiden World Cup game in this campaign, while Suryakumar Yadav will make his debut in the ODI World Cup for the national team. Making way for the duo were Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur.
With the team management deciding to bench Shardul after Hardik’s injury, there will be no pace-bowling all-rounder in the team. In fact, the Indian team will enter the stadium with 5 bowling options. Considering the form that the Kiwi batters have shown in this tournament, the strategy could turn out to be a risky one.
“We’ll bowl first. No reason, we were here training yesterday and felt a bit of dew comes in. Looks like a good pitch, we’ll back ourselves to chase. Quite important to keep the momentum going, forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, with beautiful weather and a nice stadium. Hardik isn’t available, so does Shardul. We’ve got Shami and Surya,” Rohit said after winning the toss.
Toss and Team Update
Rohit Sharma wins the toss and #TeamIndia have elected to bowl first in Dharamsala!
Two changes in the side as Suryakumar Yadav & Mohd. Shami are named in the eleven
Follow the match https://t.co/Ua4oDBM9rn#CWC23 | #MenInBlue | #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/6dy150WC1S
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 22, 2023
Tom Latham, New Zealand’s stand-in skipper for the match, said that he would’ve wanted to bowl first too.
“We’d have bowled first as well. Looks a good surface, and we know the dew will come in. The important thing is whatever we do, we need to do well. We need to keep the momentum going. We are in a new ground, new conditions so need to adjust to these conditions as quickly as we can. We’ve got the same team for today – three seamers and two spinners,” Latham said.
India Playing XI:Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand Playing XI:Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
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