Team India will hold a practice session at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA Stadium) on October 21 (Saturday). Ahead of the IND vs NZ clash, Rohit Sharma and Co. reached Dharamshala before facing the Kiwis in a much-awaited contest. To note, both sides have won four matches so far and will look to make it five wins on a trot in the next World Cup encounter.
The Blackcaps kickstarted their campaign in a fashionable way by thumping the reigning champions England. Other than that, they have won three games against teams they would have predicted to win including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands.
On the other hand, team India have four in four as well, with two of them coming against Australia and Pakistan. Rohit and Co. have also defeated Afghanistan and Bangladesh previously.
Hardik Pandya out of India vs New Zealand
All-rounder Hardik Pandya will be missing India’s next game against New Zealand to be played in Dharamsala. Pandya will be rushed to National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru where he will be treated by a specialist doctor from England and probably administered injections. Pandya is expected to join the Indian team in Lucknow and the team is hopeful he will be available for the game against England.
It must be noted that Hardik lost his balance while trying to stop what was a four off his own bowling and then lost his balance and dragged his right boot while landing on the pitch. He got up and looked in discomfort while bending over. Soon the physio was out in the middle and two senior players, Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma, were by his side.
With Pandya missing out from the action, the Men in Blue might be tempted to bring in Ravichandran Ashwin with the number of left-handed batters present in the New Zealand line-up.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c & wk), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, James Neesham, Tim Southee
Editors pick
