MOHALI - Stung by an improved New Zealand the other night, a wary India would like to quickly get their house in order when they square off with Kane Williamson's boys in the 3rd ODI on 23 October.
While the six-run defeat in Delhi has given India plenty to ponder about, it has also renewed interest in the contest which had been dominated by the home team prior to Thursday, stretching from the one-sided Test series to the first ODI in Dharamsala.
From a New Zealand point of view, a victory was all that they needed after a string of deflating defeats. As a result of their first win on Indian soil in 13 years, one can expect a certain spring in the stride of the visitors when they take the field at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. India, on the other hand, can only blame themselves for suffering a rude shock after failing to chase down a 243-run target, a total they were expected to overhaul with little difficulty. As captain MS Dhoni put it, the hosts would have won the game had some of their batsmen had made an extra 10-15 runs instead of getting out at crucial junctures. Ajinkya Rahane, who has got the opportunity to cement his place in the ODI side in the absence of injured Shikhar Dhawan, squandered starts in both the games while opening alongside Rohit Sharma, who would also be keen to be back among the runs after a couple of failures. Rohit had hurt his biceps during the last game but there hasn't yet been any news about the extent or seriousness of the injury.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni believed that had any of the batsmen stayed at the crease for 15 minutes longer than they had, a win was gettable. The Indian limited-overs captain's words may have also been a gentle reminder for a few of the batsmen in particular: Ajinkya Rahane at the opening position, Manish Pandey at No. 4, Kedar Jadhav at No. 6. This series is essentially a two-week long audition for those spots in the XI, with the next ODI series in January 2017 when England come visiting, and the ICC Champions Trophy to follow later in the year.
Tim Southee said the team wasn't doubting Taylor's pedigree and believed that a big score from him was not too far away. "It's not an easy place to come, he's had a difficult Test series," explained Southee.
SQUADS (FROM):
INDIA: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Amit Mishra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya.
NEW ZEALAND: Kane Williamson (capt), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Matt Henry, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wk), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Tim Southee.