New Zealand batter Nick Kelly hopes that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma don’t score many runs during the second ODI at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Wednesday.
India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the first ODI in Vadodara on Sunday, taking a 1-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series. The Men in Blue lost momentum after Kohli was dismissed for 93, but KL Rahul’s calm and composed 29 not out off 21 balls sealed the victory for India in the second last over.
India successfully chased 301 in the second last over, with Rahul and Washington Sundar putting up a solid partnership to secure the win by four wickets.
“Any time you get to come up against some of the world’s best, it’s obviously very exciting from a cricket fan’s point of view. But
I think the boys who are out there will be very excited. And hopefully they don’t score too many runs,” Kelly told reporters ahead of the second ODI.
The 32-year-old is looking forward to another thrilling game after the close contest in the first ODI. “Yeah, obviously very exciting. The game a couple of days ago was very, very close. So it was good to get here today. And, you know, beautiful practice wicket. So hopefully another cracking game tomorrow.”
Kelly added, “Obviously, it was a cracking game. You know, at the end there it got very, very tight. Hopefully, you know, we’ve had a lot of chats over the last 24 to 48 hours. So hopefully tomorrow we can go out there and get the win and make it 1-1.”
IND vs NZ – Squads
India: Shubman Gill (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ayush Badoni, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana.
New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (c), Devon Conway (wk), Mitchell Hay (wk), Nick Kelly, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Josh Clarkson, Zak Foulkes, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Adithya Ashok, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Jayden Lennox, Michael Rae.
(With inputs from Agencies)
