Middle order in focus as India eye series sweep against New Zealand

With a series sweep in sight the middle order will be eager to give a better account of themselves as the Indian team management contemplates rotating its bowlers in the third and final ODI against New Zealand here on TuesdayOpener Shubman Gill has been in excellent form having scored a sensational double hundred in the opener followed by a 40run knock in the lowscoring second ODI Skipper Rohit Sharma too is having a good runHowever the home team is aware that despite enjoying an unassailable 20 lead in the series Shubman and Rohit have been the only two batters among runs for the hostsAt the same time it is also a fact that the others havent been tested and the dead rubber will be the perfect opportunity for the likes Ishan Kishan Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav to get some batting practice in match situationsKohlis problem against leftarm spin has come to the fore once again as the talismanic batter has repeatedly gotten dismissed by Mitchell SantnerAfter notching three hundreds in four innings the former skipper was dismissed cheaply in both the ODIs as New Zealands star leftarm spinner exposed the chinks in Kohlis armour With the World Cup just months away Kohli would be keen for some muchneeded course correctionIn the absence of Shreyas Iyer Suryakumar was expected to provide some firepower at the back endHowever the premier T20 batter failed to do that in the seriesopener Hardik too has been underwhelming with the bat of late He has had a mediocre series against Sri Lanka and hasnt impressed against New Zealand yetWith the T20 fixtures scheduled later this week and the allimportant Australia series due to begin next month the team management may also be tempted to rest players and hand Rajat Patidar who was added to the squad as a replacement for the injured Iyer a debutPatidar has impressed in the domestic circuit as well as in the IPLAlso readIndia crush Sri Lanka by 91 runs after Suryakumar Yadav tonThere could also be changes in the bowling department with express pacer Umran Malik coming back into the side or spinner legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal replacing Kuldeep YadavBoth Chahal and Umran have not featured in the series so far and with the ODI World Cup later this year the team management is looking to test the core players while carefully monitoring the workloadThe Indian bowlers were guilty of letting New Zealand score over 300 runs after being 131 for six in the first ODI but the seamers came back strongly in the Raipur gameMohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj and Hardik were clinical while the spinners have also done a decent jobNew Zealand on the other hand will be eager to grab a consolation win to boost their morale For that to happen the Black Caps who are without the services of regular skipper Kane Williamson will have to address their batting woesNew Zealands top six batters have scored 40 or more on just seven occasions in the last 30 innings The only batter that has impressed in their lineup is Michael Bracewell who along with Mitchell Santner almost took his side over the line in HyderabadEven the bounce and smaller boundaries make the pitch at the Holkar Stadium batter friendly and the bowlers will have to work hard to keep the scoring in checkTeams fromIndia Rohit Sharma Captain Shubman Gill Ishan Kishan wk Virat Kohli Rajat Patidar Suryakumar Yadav KS Bharat wk Hardik Pandya vicecaptain Washington Sundar Shahbaz Ahmed Shardul Thakur Yuzvendra Chahal Kuldeep Yadav Mohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj and Umran MalikNew Zealand Tom Latham captain Finn Allen Doug Bracewell Michael Bracewell Mark Chapman Devon Conway Jacob Duffy Lockie Ferguson Daryl Mitchell Henry Nicholls Glenn Phillips Mitchell Santner Henry Shipley Ish Sodhi and Blair TicknerMatch starts 130 PM ISTThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever