Shreyas Iyer captains India for the first time in this series when the fourth ODI starts at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui at 7:30am IST on Friday, with India 2-0 up and one win from sealing it. New Zealand have named uncapped Central Districts seamer Brett Randell for the last two games, New Zealand Cricket said on Thursday.
The squads have changed more than the scoreline. India have lost their captain, their wicketkeeper and the seamer who went for 22 in his 10 overs at Eden Park, and New Zealand have sent three of their coaches to Wellington ahead of the Tests. For a series that has produced only 48.4 overs of Indian batting so far, Friday is close to a fresh start.
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Key points
- The fourth ODI starts at 7:30am IST on Friday, 13 November, at Bay Oval, with India 2-0 up
- Shreyas Iyer captains India; Gill, Rahul and Kamboj have joined the Test camp, but Kuldeep and Siraj stay with the ODI squad
- Central Districts seamer Brett Randell, 31, has his first New Zealand call-up for the last two games
Iyer’s India: who went to Wellington and who stayed
Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj left after the washed-out third ODI in Hamilton to prepare for the first Test from 19 November. Ishan Kishan is Iyer’s vice-captain and takes the gloves, Outlook reported, and Ruturaj Gaikwad is the likeliest batter to come in.
Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj did not go with them. Early reports after the washout had both heading to the Test camp, but they travelled to Mount Maunganui with the ODI squad, RevSportz reported from Hamilton, and both are in the 15 listed for the last two games. Kuldeep has not played in the series. India picked four seamers for the opener, and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak’s explanation of the balance was simple: “See, 50 overs will have to be bowled, so five bowlers will be needed.”
With Kamboj gone, there is room for one of them. Kuldeep has 10 wickets at 20.9 in five ODIs in New Zealand, according to RevSportz, while Siraj would be playing only his second international since the Sri Lanka tour in August, ESPNcricinfo noted. Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar, who took 4 for 30 in Wellington, should keep their places.
India squad for the last two ODIs: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra (wk), Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav.
New Zealand bring in Randell and lose three coaches
Randell, 31, has 145 professional appearances, five of them for New Zealand A, and has just come back from a County Championship spell with Derbyshire. Head coach Rob Walter called him “a consistent performer in domestic cricket for some time now”.
Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson are in the 14 for Friday but not for Sunday’s fifth game, when Blair Tickner returns after his concussion stand-down and all-rounder Josh Clarkson joins. Lockie Ferguson is still out with a calf tear. Bowling coach Jacob Oram, batting coach Luke Ronchi and strength coach Chris Donaldson have already left for Wellington, so Walter has Martin Guptill and Northern Districts’ Mitch Renwick alongside him.
A series nobody has batted through
No side has reached 200 in an innings in the three games. India chased in both completed matches and won both on DLS:
| Match | New Zealand | India | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st ODI, Auckland | 185 (40.2 overs) | 143/5 (22.4 overs) | India won by 5 wickets (DLS) |
| 2nd ODI, Wellington | 134 (41 overs) | 113/7 (26 overs) | India won by 4 runs (DLS) |
| 3rd ODI, Hamilton | No play | Abandoned | |
Bay Oval has been kinder to batters. The last time these sides played an ODI there, in February 2020, India made 296 for 7 and New Zealand still chased it down with five wickets and 17 balls to spare to finish a 3-0 sweep. That is the ground’s reputation: true bounce and carry for the quicks early, then easier batting later in the day.
The weather should help too. “The weather looks promising this weekend so hopefully we’ll get to end the series on a high,” Walter said, which would be a change after a series in which rain has had the bigger say.
What happens next
A win on Friday gives India the series with a game to spare. If New Zealand win, Sunday’s fifth ODI at the same ground decides whether they draw it 2-2. Both games start at 3pm local, 7:30am IST, with the toss half an hour earlier. The two-Test series begins at the Basin Reserve on 19 November, where New Zealand have recalled Jacob Duffy.
Market watch
- Totals have been low all series, but those were rain-shortened games on slow surfaces. Bay Oval’s 2020 scores are a reminder that a full 50 overs here can look very different.
- India’s batting has changed since the opener: Gaikwad and Kishan have had no ODI cricket on this tour, so their run lines carry little recent form.
- Both completed games were won by the side batting second. Iyer’s first call at the toss is one for the toss predictions page.
- Whether Kuldeep plays changes the shape of India’s attack and the middle-overs wicket markets.
For more, see the latest match predictions and upcoming games in our fixtures centre.
Top image: Photo: Bradley-John Watling / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Pradeep Singh
Pradeep Singh is a cricket betting expert with 17+ years of experience. His work is in The Times of India, Hindustan Dainik, and Dainik Bhaskar, covering cricket betting and gambling news.
At cricket-betting.net, he is our in-house expert, writing betting guides, match analysis, and news about cricket betting markets.
