India looks to bounce back to keep series alive

Pune: When Australia broke India's joint-longest winning streak (of nine matches) in One-Day Internationals in Bangalore last month, there was not too much for Virat Kohli and Co. to fret about.

It was only India’s fifth loss in 23 ODIs this year, and the result merely reduced the scoreline to 3-1, the host having already clinched the five-match series.

New Zealand, however, would have left India pretty unsettled after stunning it by six wickets to win the first of three ODIs in Mumbai on Sunday, thus taking a 1-0 lead.

It has made the second contest, in Pune on Wednesday, a must-win encounter for India, and opened up a great chance for New Zealand to seal its maiden series win in India.

The switch between the batting positions of Colin Munro and Tom Latham worked really well for New Zealand in the first match.

While Munro, opening the innings for the first time in his career, survived a few scares against the swing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah to see off the early attack from the Indians, Latham used his prowess against spin to partner Ross Taylor in countering the threat posed by Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs.

Latham's century and Taylor's grit were the highlights for New Zealand, but it was its bowling attack that troubled India early on. Trent Boult, especially, was brilliant from the word go, removing the dangerous opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma inside the first six overs.

Had it not been for Kohli, who knuckled down to score his 31st hundred in ODIs, India could have found it difficult to even get past 250. Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Hardik Pandya all got starts, but were unable to convert them to big knocks with Boult and Tim Southee getting breakthroughs at regular intervals.

Teams from:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel.

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, George Worker, Ish Sodhi.

Pitch and conditions:
Tracks laid out at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune are generally batting-friendly, but then again, it could well turn out to be another surprise.

Stats and trivia

• The last time Pune hosted an ODI, India, riding on an electric fifth-wicket stand of 200 between Kohli and Jadhav, chased down a 351-run target set by England in January this year.
• Rohit needs 78 runs to become the second batsman after Virat Kohli to reach 1000 ODI runs in 2017
• A win the second ODI will give New Zealand their first bilateral series win in India, having lost all five preceding series.

Match facts
Wednesday October 25, 2017
Start time 13:30 IST (08:00 GMT)