 After crushing Australia by 38 runs in the first warm-up game India will have one more chance to fine tune there preparation ahead of World Cup. This will be great opportunity for Dhoni and there men to test there strength and weakness against the New Zealand.
Sachin Tendulkar who missed the last warm-up game against Australia is fit and likely to play that means for the first time after so many games India will go into the match with full strength batting line-up. Return of Tendulkar in the squad means Gambhir will love down to bat at number three position with Yuvraj, Raina, Dhoni, Kohli and Pathan will come after them. It will be another opportunity for struggling Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina to get into the groove before the World Cup campaign. In the last one an half year Yuvraj Singh struggle with the bat and fitness and for Indian perspective he must get back to form to lift Indian middle order which is struggling a bit in last few matches. Zaheer Khan who missed the first game has still not recovered fully and is likely to miss the game. So it will be another great opportunity for Sreesanth, Munaf and Nehra to get back into rhythm. On the other hand New Zealand team will look to secure a win to get much needed boost ahead of the World Cup but they knows this is easier said than done against one of the hot contenders for World Cup 2011. New Zealand knows that at the same venue they were beaten comprehensively by second string Indian squad by 9 wickets and this time Indian team is back to full strength squad with the return of Sehwag and Sachin. However they know that some of there batsmen are in top form like Martin Guptil, J.Ryder with recently made century under their belt and if they get going with B.McCullum and R.Taylor anything can be possible. Looking to put behind their dismal performance of losing 14 of their last 17 ODIs, the Kiwis would be banking on the experience and expertise of their new coach John Wright in the subcontinent conditions, to keep alive their hopes of making it to the knock-out stage. Match is schedule to begin at 14:30 PM India Time India: M.S.Dhoni (Captain & WK), Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, R. Ashwin, P.Chawla, Ashish Nehra, S.Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Captain), James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock, Nathan McCullum, Brendon McCullum (WK), Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Hamish Bennett, Tim Southee. |
