India Playing XI vs NZ: SKY & Shami replace Hardik & Shardul in crucial IND vs NZ clash

India has been poised with a serious headache. With Hardik Pandya ruled out of the India vs New Zealand World Cup clash, Rohit Sharma has brought in Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami as India faces table toppers.

India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

“We’ll bowl first. No reason, we were here training yesterday and felt a bit of dew comes in. Looks like a good pitch, we’ll back ourselves to chase. Quite important to keep the momentum going, forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, beautiful weather and nice stadium. Hardik isn’t available, so does Shardul. We’ve got Shami and Surya,” said Rohit at the Toss.

Like India, the Kiwis have been in sensational form. They too have won their opening 4 matches and occupy the top spot of the table with a better Net Run Rate compared to the Men in Blue. While India cruised to a dominant win against Bangladesh, they lost Hardik Pandya who twisted his left ankle.

“The all-rounder was taken for scans and is advised rest. He will be under the constant supervision of the BCCI Medical Team. He will not be taking the flight to Dharamsala with the team on 20th October and will now join the team directly in Lucknow where India play England,” BCCI said in a statement.

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SKY & Shami keen to start

Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammed Shami starts the match against the Kiwis. With Pandya not available, Rohit Sharma will have to look for a finisher and pacer. There is no direct replacement for Hardik in the squad and thus Shardul Thakur has been slotted into the bench to accommodate both SKY and Shami.

India faced a bowing crisis after Pandya was taken off the field after bowling just 3 balls. Virat Kohli finished the over on the former’s behalf. SKY despite having poor ODI stats brings the X-factor in the team and is an excellent finisher like Pandya. On the other hand, Shami who has been snubbed for the first 4 matches is now keen to showcase his brilliance with seam bowling.

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What to expect from India?

The batting pair is set. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill showcased their fine form in the previous match. While Rohit departed after a fiery 48, Gill was patient to convert his knock to his maiden ODI World Cup half-century.
At number 3, Virat Kohli will come to the crease. Kohli showed his class and resilience as he notched his 48th ODI hundred against Bangladesh in Pune.
Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will occupy their slots at number 4 and 5 respectively and will look to anchor the innings as they have been doing.
SKY will come in at number 6 and lefty Ravindra Jadeja will play at the number 7 spot providing a good right-left-handed combo in the finisher’s role.
Shardul Thakur will be dropped and India will play an extra pacer on his behalf.
Kuldeep Yadav will continue to lead the spin-charge with Jadeja.
Red hot in form, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will retain their spot as the two predominant pacers in the team.
Shami will become the 3rd pacer in the team.