Rohit Sharma has urged India to focus on themselves and not top-ranked New Zealand ahead of another ODI series against the Black Caps.
The first of the three matches will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday, with India coming off a 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka and New Zealand fresh from a 2-1 success against Pakistan.
India contested a weather-damaged series in New Zealand in November, with only one of the three matches producing a result and the home team winning 1-0.
They will now be hoping for three full matches, with New Zealand having to cope without the rested Kane Williamson and Tim Southee, while Trent Boult is unavailable due to T20 commitments in the United Arab Emirates.
India suffered a blow on the eve of the opening match as opener Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the series with a back injury. Rajat Patidar was named as his replacement in the squad, while Rohit announced that Ishan Kishan would come into the middle order.
KL Rahul is another notable absence, with his wedding to Bollywood star Athiya Shetty widely reported to be scheduled for the next few days.
Captain Rohit said, “New Zealand are a very good team. They are having a good series against Pakistan and are obviously playing good cricket, so it will be challenging for us to come out and execute what we want to execute.
“We just want to pick up where we left off against Sri Lanka.
“We’re not going to focus too much on the opposition. We’re going to focus on what we want to achieve and what we want to do as a team. The last series was the perfect example of that. We just went out there, played some fearless cricket and got against the opposition.”
India’s series sweep of Sri Lanka was completed with a record 317-run victory in the third match on Sunday after posting 390 and bowling out their tourists for 73.
They now face the team that tops the ICC rankings for the 50-over format, with the Hyderabad match followed by games in Raipur and Indore, before a three-match T20I series.
Good omens for the hosts
India have won the last two men’s ODIs against New Zealand at home, as many as they had won in the previous five such matches (W2, L3).
They have also triumphed in their last three men’s ODIs at the Hyderabad venue.
Milestone on the horizon for Gill
Shubman Gill is 106 away from reaching 1000 runs for India in ODIs. If he reaches the milestone of a century in this match, his 19th ODI, it would make him the second fastest man to reach the mark, alongside Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq.
Gill made 116 last time, in the third ODI against Sri Lanka.
