Mahendra Singh Dhoni's leadership, as well as finishing skills, will be put to an unrelenting test when an inconsistent India take on a rejuvenated New Zealand in the series-deciding 5th and final ODI on the 29th of October at Vizag.
New Zealand have never won an ODI series in India. While the prospect of breaking such a record is daunting at the best of times, the whitewash in the Test series and the drubbing in Dharamsala only made it seem near-impossible. But after nearly two weeks, with the series at 2-2, they would rather look at Saturday's game as a chance to rewrite history. After the Ranchi ODI, every member of New Zealand's team management has used elegant variations of the same theme.
New Zealand, during the ICC WT 20 last year in India, worked really hard which was eloquent in their performance then and their astute reading of situation and teams were the reason for that kind of a performance . Tim Southee put it down to effective information exchange between batsmen and bowlers. "Not every time we can get it right. We just give ourselves the best chance to read the conditions and adapt quickly," he said on the eve of the match.
One area where they have not adapted quickly enough is their middle order. Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi struggled in the first three ODIs and were subsequently dropped, but Ross Taylor has shown signs of form in the last two games. In a crunch game, they will need most of their batsmen to back what has generally been a competent bowling unit.
India, on the other hand, will probably look at an opportunity missed after they could not close out the series in Ranchi. For a young middle order, though, this is another chance to repay the faith that MS Dhoni has invested in them. Players like Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav will have their final chance to prove themselves .
Also, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane have to step up for India to have any chance of winning.
Squads India: MS Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Axar Patel, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Amit Mishra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav and Mandeep Singh.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, James Neesham, BJ Watling (wicketkeeper), Anton Devcich, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper), Matt Henry and Doug Bracewell.
