What First ODI of the five-match series between New Zealand and India When Sunday, January 19, 2014, (14:00 local | 01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST) Where McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand The Teams India Although their South African sojourn didn’t end victoriously, the experience will help the young Team India to embark on their New Zealand tour with a significant increase in confidence. The batsmen will be more certain in their plans against the seaming and bouncing ball and the fast bowlers should now have a better idea of how to utilize the favourable conditions. While the batting group is similar to what travelled to South Africa, there are some additions on the bowling front in form of Ishwar Pandey and Varun Aaron. However, it will be interesting to see if either of them is thrust into action straight away. In Stuart Binny India have in their squad a seam bowling allrounder, a breed MS Dhoni has yearned to have at his disposal. He now will be faced with a decision of whether to play him ahead of Ravindra Jadeja. If he chooses to play both, R Ashwin might have to sit out. New Zealand The New Zealanders are fresh from a very decent home series against West Indies, winning the Test series, drawing the ODI series and winning the two T20Is. The fact that their last series ended with the limited overs leg, means the Kiwis will hit the ground running in Napier. Since the hosts have retained their ODI squad for the India series, expect the Playing XI to be more or less identical to the one that took on West Indies. Key Players India One of the most crucial factors for India’s success is how the batsmen handle the new ball from both ends. It, hence, makes the role of the opening batsmen highly critical. Since Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma had a rather quiet time in South Africa, they will need to regain their mojo. Patience is a virtue that the two openers might find pretty handy in the initial overs. New Zealand Ross Taylor was in blazing form in the Test series against the West Indians with a double century and two tons. He failed to get past the 50-run mark in the limited overs games that followed and will be keen to set that right. Statistics India- New Zealand in ODIs

India – New Zealand ODIs in New Zealand

India-New Zealand ODIs in New Zealand – Vital Stats Highest total India: 392/4 at Christchurch in 2009 New Zealand: 334 at Christchurch in 2009 Lowest total India: 108 at Auckland & at Christchurch in 2009 New Zealand: 142 at Auckland in 1994 Highest individual score India: 163* (retd hurt), Sachin Tendulkar at Christchurch in 2009 New Zealand: 115, Chris Cairns at Christchurch in 1999 Individual Hundreds India: 5 (Virender Sehwag 3, Rahul Dravid 1, Sachin Tendulkar 1) New Zealand: 3 (Martin Crowe, Chris Cairns & Jesse Ryder one each) Best bowling India: 5/33 by Anil Kumble at Wellington in 1994 New Zealand: 5/22 by Andre Adams at Queenstown in 2003 Trivia Only four players in this Indian squad have had the experience of playing an ODI in New Zealand. They are : MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma. MS Dhoni is one short of 300 dismissals in ODIs. He will become first Indian and only the fourth wicketkeeper in ODIs to reach this landmark. Four out of last five result-oriented ODIs at Napier were won by sides batting second. The Squads India: M.S. Dhoni (Capt/wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Ishwar Pandey, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron. New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (capt/wk), Corey Anderson, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson.