Team India faced off against New Zealand in the first ODI at Hyderabad on Wednesday, January 18, looking to add to their winning streak at home.
Having defeated Sri Lanka 3-0, the Men in Blue will be confident as they take on the number 1 ranked ODI team in the world.
In the absence of Kane Williamson, Tom Latham will be leading the Kiwis, while the Indian side will have to make do without the likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Axar Patel.
Skipper Rohit Sharma decided to include the likes of Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav as well as Ishan Kishan while choosing to leave Umran Malik out of the team, a decision which irked fans.
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Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur were included in India’s playing XI ahead of Umran, a move which confused many fans.
Some fans wondered why Shami was preferred ahead of a young Umran who could be groomed while playing against a side like New Zealand.
Others argued Shardul’s inclusion in the side along with Pandya would add depth to the batting lineup but would hamper the growth of Umran, who has been a tad bit expensive but bring an X-factor with his sheer pace.
Here’s how fans reacted:
@starniadugu why umran Malik was not in playing 11 today while he was taking wickets regularly @StarSportsTel— MBG ARMY (@Sricharan__goud) January 18, 2023
Would have liked to see Umran ahead of Shami today. Shardul can bowl in the PP. Umran in middle-overs adds a lot of value. He was amongst the wickets too.— Harshit Anand (@imHarshitAnand) January 18, 2023
Playing Shardul Thakur in the XI is a try to find Hardik replacement but he is not that good a batsman plus there is not much time to develop him into. Umran Malik would have been much better to have for match experience. #INDvsNZ #TeamIndia— Geet Jain (@geetjain4) January 18, 2023
Millions of people want to see Umran playing every day in every match, his performance is also good, still don’t know why he is being dropped, is it the team’s strategy or the captain’s#umran @BCCI— Dhananjay Yadav (@Dhananj92yadav) January 18, 2023
#umran is the entertainment plus good bowling.Maza nahi ayga ab match me ????#INDvsNZ— Dino_Spark (@frazy190) January 18, 2023
Playing Shardul ahead of Umran Malik is absolute nonsense #indvsnz— ਗੁਰਪ੍ਰੀਤ (@gurpreetscheema) January 18, 2023
Rahul Dravid and @BCCI itne defensive minded hai BC @umran_malik_01 ko hi bahar bitha diya.. itni fuddu and thaki hui soch #INDvsNZ @vikrantgupta73— Kawal (@imkawaljit) January 18, 2023
Debuting Umran to play Shardul the very next series is taking 2 steps forward and 4 steps back— ❄️ (@EnPassantMate) January 18, 2023
Apart from the ongoing 3-match ODI series, India and New Zealand will also lock horns in a T20I series of as many games.
However, the focus of both sides will be on the 50 overs format as they look to get into the groove ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023 later this year.
After the first match in Hyderabad, both teams will travel to Raipur for the second ODI, followed by Indore’s Holkar Stadium which will host the third and final match of the series.
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