 M.S.Dhoni and his men are well placed by winning the first ODI and now the pressure is on New Zealand team to win the third ODI to keep their hopes alive of winning the series. After the washout game at Wellington, the game at AMI Stadium Christchurch will be do or die for Daniel Vettori teams. On the other hand Indian will feel relaxed after S.Tendulkar showed a sign of return to form with quick 61 runs of 69 balls in rain washed game at Wellington. So far New Zealand bowlers have struggled to contain Virendra Sehwag and that has created fear in the mind of New Zealand bowlers. Virendra Sehwag in both ODI's ensured that India got of to flying start. In the first ODI he has scored 77 runs of 56 balls and in 2nd ODI he smashed 54 runs of 36 balls. So if Virendra Sehwag continues to play in the same way what he did in first two ODI's then India may look to take an unbeatable lead of 2-0 in the five match ODI Series. New Zealand bowlers have to come out with some strategy if they would like to restrict the famed Indian batting lineup containing Sehwwag, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni, S.Raina, Gambhir and Pathan. Except New Zealand Captain Daniel Vettori no bowlers looked to contained the Indian batsman when they were in full flow. Indian team started their tour from this ground from the first twenty20 game but their entire batsman in spite of looking in good form perishes too soon as they tried to take advantage of the shorter boundary. So Indian team have to play in controlled manner at this venue and set some target in mind because many team struggled at this ground because team batting first thinks that even 350 will be easily chasable target and they end up scoring some where between 220-250, which is not enough to protect at this venue. Watch out for Yuvraj Singh: So far he has some how struggled to put runs on the board except the one inning he played at Wellington in second twenty20 game. In the first ODI he was unlucky to be ran himself out and in second ODI rain interruption may disturbed him. He will get another chance to show his talent during 3rd ODI. If he can overcome his troubles against spin and lateral movement, Yuvraj Singh could cause serious damage in shorter ground at Christchurch. M.Guptill: M.Guptill a new talented New Zealand cricketers, who came to the seen during West Indies series scoring a century in his debut ODI. Since then he played some great knocks in his eight match ODI career, scoring 365 runs with an average of 60.83. As we have seen during first twenty20 at this venue and also in first ODI how dangerous this man is when come to hitting the ball with so much ease and timing. With short square boundary at AMI Stadium, he can be dangerous batsman to control. Pitch and conditions Indians will be playing their second game at this ground on the current tour. On their previous outing they have beaten comprehensively by host in the first twenty20. Total 24 huge record sixes has been hit in that match due to short nature of the Ground. The pitch at AMI Stadium looks similar to the one used in twenty20 game, so we can expect a team batting first will eye score around 300 runs plus. However there is a 20% chance of rain expected on Sunday. Stats & Trivia AMI Stadium, Christchurch is one of the happy hunting ground fro the host, they have lost only three out of 12 games they have played here since 2000. In total they have played 43 One Day International at this venue and won 25 and lost 18 games. Indian team poses very poor records at this ground; they were not able to win a single game so far out of five ODI's they have played at AMI Stadium. Team News Indian think management is unlikely to take any risk with injured Ishant Sharma. However Indian captain M.S.Dhoni suggested that I.Sharma will be great option for his team by considering the nature and shorter boundary ropes as AMI Stadium, Christchurch. But it all depends on how well he recovered from his shoulder injury. So if he is fully fit then M.Patel has to sit out for him. Virendra Sehwag also got cramped in his leg during second ODI at Wellington, but he is not in the condition to sit out from 3rd ODI at Christchurch. Brendon McCullum is yet to recover from his thumb injury, so New Zealand has no other option than playing with same XI that was played at Wellington. Likely Playing XI for both teams (Match is schedule to begin at 06:30 AM India Time on 8th Of March) India Squad: Sachin Tendulkar, V.Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Y.Singh, S.Raina, M.S.Dhoni (Captain & WK), Yusuf Pathan, H.Singh, Z.Khan, P.Kumar, M.Patel/I.Sharma. New Zealand Squad: Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, P. McGlashan (WK), Grant Elliott, Daniel Vettori (Captain), Kyle Mills, Ian Butler, Iain O'Brien. |
