After almost a long period of 4 months, Virat Kohli-led team India is all set to take on New Zealand in their first warm-up game ahead of the Champions Trophy 2017. Earlier in January 2017, the men-in-blue played their last One Day International (ODI) series at home against England which they won by 2-1. And now the defending champions of this title are ready to face Kiwis in London. On the other hand, New Zealand has recently won the series against Bangladesh but lost their last game by 5 wickets. Now it would be interesting to see the face-off between both the teams whose players are on top of their forms. The live coverage of this practice match will be telecasted on Star Sports 1 & 1 HD from 15:00 IST.
But ahead of this game, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma will not be a part of this match. Yuvraj has been suffering from viral fever and is at the recovery stage. While Rohit Sharma has been given a special permission to attend a wedding ceremony. However, Rohit will be a part of the team on May 30 in the practice game against Bangladesh.
This tournament will be a litmus test for Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he his presence in the squad turned out to be a controversial issue. Also in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 10, he couldn’t perform very well with the bat but his wicket-keeping skills are still undoubtedly remarkable.
The man is here – @msdhoni #TeamIndia #IndvNZ #CT17 pic.twitter.com/Hvz89NkUgE
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 28, 2017
It will be a surprise to see the opening pair as Shikhar Dhawan is back in the team and name of Ajinkya Rahane was already speculated for the same.
In the bowling department, Ashwin is back on a long streak of injury due to which he had to miss the entire season of the IPL. Also, Mohammad Shami is also back in the ODI circuit and along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, it’s the time to prove their best.
#TeamIndia skipper @imVkohli interacting with security personnel before leaving for The Oval #IndvNZ #CT17 pic.twitter.com/fbyg9NANLW
— BCCI (@BCCI) May 28, 2017
As far as the Kiwi side is concerned, they look pretty balanced. In the recently concluded tri-series against Bangladesh, Luke Ronchi and Tom Latham opened the inning but it didn’t work as expected. However, the addition of Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Corey Anderson, and Colin de Grandhomme will provide the strength to the middle order.
Squads
India
Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya.
New Zealand
Jeetan Patel, Ross Taylor, Tim Southee, Luke Ronchi (wk), Neil Broom, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson (c), Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Colin de Grandhomme, Trent Boult, Tom Latham, Corey Anderson, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner
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