India vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI: Toss, Playing 11 Update: NZ elect to bowl; No place for Sanju Samson

New Zealand won the toss and they expectedly elected to bowl as there was nip in the air because of rain and wetness as the pacers might just get benefited.

1. Playing 11

India: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson.

2. Pre-match comments

Shikhar Dhawan, India captain: “You always go with the mindset of winning. We are relaxed in the dressing room and are switching on whenever needed. We’re just sticking to the processes. More grass on this surface, would have liked to bowl as well but we need to bat well. Last game I thought it would seam a lot, but it played well. Shubman has batted well, even Surya. It’s about being positive and creating momentum. Same team.”

Kane Williamson, New Zealand captain: “We’re gonna have a bowl first. Obviously the overhead conditions and green tinge, so. All our grounds are a bit different. It was a good team performance (in the first ODI), put under pressure and we responded well. The surface here generally has a lot of bounce. One change – Milne comes in for Bracewell.”

VVS Laxman, India coach: “It has been disappointing weather-wise but hope we got a full game. It (coaching role) is fully satisfying, obviously it’s only a stop-gap arrangement but it’s been fun working with the young guys. It’s about the combination you want to play for each game. India is blessed to have a strong depth of talent and bench strength. It’s about giving them opportunities and also informing them whenever they aren’t picked.

“He (Pant) has been doing well at no.4, not too long ago he scored an important century at Old Trafford and it’s important to back him. T20 cricket has given batters more confidence about clearing the grounds no matter how big the outfields are, they also work a lot with the range-hitting.”

Rishabh Pant, India wicketkeeper batter: “We didn’t think it (the weather) would be this bad. It rains only on match days and we can’t do much. I would choose to bat in the top order in T20Is, number 4-5 in ODIs and in Test I’m batting at 5. Yes, the game plan changes when you’re batting lower down the order but at the same time you have to bat where the team wants you to. There’s no need to premeditate in ODIs, only in T20s you need to premeditate.

“I don’t look at numbers, yes my T20I numbers are not great but I’m still 24 and there’s no time to compare. The keeping drills are the same regardless of the format. There’s no down time at all, I am going straight to Bangladesh from here.”

Pitch report, Ashish Nehra / Murali Kartik to host broadcaster: “It looks quite green and the record overall here shows that 280 is the average score batting first. It is a firm surface but there is a lot of a live grass on this. Cloud cover is on and definitely there will be a lot in it for the pacers.”