The five-match ODI series between the hosts New Zealand and the visitors India will begin on Wednesday (23 January) when both teams will meet at McLean Park (Napier). It will be a day/night encounter which will begin at 15:00 local time (07:30 IST).

Both are the top sides in the present ICC ODI rankings. While India is the second-ranked ODI team, New Zealand is the third-ranked ODI side.

Also read: NZ vs Ind (ODI Series): Ranking Scenarios At The End Of The Series

New Zealand cricket team

The no.3 ODI ranked side New Zealand is performing well in every game and they are known one of best sides in the home ODIs. Though the present New Zealand cricket team is the well-balanced side, they are facing the little lack of dependable deepness in both the batting and bowling units.

Apart from their top-batsmen Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, the wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Latham is in a very good form at present. The opener Martin Guptill is also in a good form but the host side will miss James Neesham in this series who made a remarkable national team comeback in the recently concluded home ODI series against Sri Lanka.

While the leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and the right-arm pacer Lockie Ferguson are in a good form, the experienced pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee always stay in the game, especially on the home soil.

Form guide (last five ODIs; starting with most recent): Won, Won, Won, No Result and Lost

Also read: Predicted XIs For The Napier ODI Between New Zealand And India

Indian cricket team

The no.2 ODI ranked side Indian cricket team is currently in a very good form in international cricket. They have landed to New Zealand after winning the three-match ODI series (by 1-2) against the hosts Australia.

Indian top-order batsmen are in good form in the limited-overs cricket and it seems more dangerous when the wicketkeeper-batsman and the former skipper MS Dhoni has returned to the form. The middle-order batting also looks in a good shape. However, there is still a question mark about the lower-order batting, especially outside the Asian soil.

Also read: Virat Kohli: Kane Williamson Is Easily One Of The Best Players In The World

The pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami are in good forms but they will miss Jasprit Bumrah in this series too, just like the previous ODI series in Australia. In that Australia tour, the third Indian pacers, which have lack of experiences in the international cricket, didn’t impress with the ball in hand. It will be very interesting to see how the Indian spinners will perform in New Zealand, who have recently performed well in the middle overs, even in outside the Asian soil too.

Form guide (last five ODIs; starting with most recent): Won, Won, Lost, Won and Won

Full squads

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma (vc), Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav

Also read: New Zealand vs India (ODI Series): Important Stats Preview

Key Stats Preview:

• Only two ODIs have been played at McLean Park (Napier), since the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Both the ODIs in post-2015 World Cup were even failed to begin.
• New Zealand has played 40 ODIs at McLean Park (Napier) where they have won 24 ODIs, lost 13 ODIs, tied two ODIs and other one had no result.
• India has played six ODIs at McLean Park (Napier) where they have won two ODIs and lost four ODIs. India has played all the ODIs at this venue against New Zealand.
• The left-arm New Zealand pacer Trent Boult (93 wickets) is two wickets away to become the most wicket-taker as a left-arm pacer in the home ODI history. Former Indian left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan is on the top of this list with 94 ODI wickets at home.
• Indian pacer Mohammed Shami (99 wickets) is one wicket away to claim his 100 ODI wickets as he will become the 20th Indian bowler to achieve 100 ODI wickets. While Shami has played 55 ODIs till the date, he has a great opportunity to become the fastest Indian bowler (no. of ODI wickets) to claim 100 ODI wickets. The Indian left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan is on top of this list who had achieved that feat in 59 ODIs.
• Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan (4,967 runs) needs to score 33 more runs to complete his 5,000 ODI runs. He will be 13th Indian batsman, fifth Indian left-handed batsman and fifth Indian opening batsman to achieve this feat.
• Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (1,990 runs) needs to score 10 more runs to complete 2,000 ODI runs in a career. He will be only third Indian cricketer and 26th overall cricketer to score 2,000+ runs and also to take 150+ wickets simultaneously in ODI career.