The Men in Blue have been in blazing form so far in the ODI series against New Zealand. India won the five-match ODI series after they clinched the third ODI at Bay Oval, which means the next two games are going to be dead rubbers. And it might be a perfect time for them to try out reserve players and India’s fielding coach, R Sridhar has also indicated to something of that sort.
“See, winning is a habit which we would obviously want to continue. When you’re one-up or three-up against a team, you want to continue with the form; you want to don’t want to let down the intensity. At the same time, we also need to give game-time to our reserves. There’s just seven games remaining for us before we play our first World Cup game. We should not end up in a situation where the main eleven has played and the reserves have not got enough game time, and then suddenly they have to play an important crucial game in the World Cup,” Sridhar said on the eve of the fourth ODI.
“And that is what we would like to achieve from the remaining two games in this series and no better place than New Zealand to simulate the conditions in England in June,” he added.
Players like Mohammed Siraj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shubman Gill have not got a chance to play in the ongoing series so far. Shubman Gill is likely to make his ODI debut tomorrow given India would like to test him before the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Mohammed Shami might get some rest after he has featured in India’s XI in last six ODIs. He was also part of the team in all the four Tests against Australia. Khaleel Ahmed, who impressed one and all last year in home series against Windies might get preference over Mohammed Siraj, who looked sluggish in the only ODI he played in Australia.
Given the fact that India have got back an all-rounder in form of Hardik Pandya, and the wrist-spin duo of Chahal and Kuldeep is doing extremely well, Jadeja might not get a go in the fourth ODI.