Live: IND Vs NZ Warm-up | World Cup 2019 | Live Scores and Commentary LONDON: While they won the Champions Trophy in 2013 and reached the final in 2017, India don't have too many happy memories of England in the recent past.
Thrice in a row since 2011, they have lost badly to the hosts in the Test series, and during their last outing in the CT, their campaign was marred by the rift between the coach and the captain. Following differences with Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble quit in acrimonious circumstances, and India were thrashed badly in the final by Pakistan. Two years down the line, India arrive a more confident bunch, with those memories having been extinguished.
With the idea of getting acclimatized to the conditions as soon as possible, the 'Men in Blue' will look to get into the groove right away when they play New Zealand in their first warm-up match before the 2019 World Cup, at The Oval on Saturday.
Apart from adjusting to the slightly colder weather than they are coming off from back home, India's first task will also be to switch to 50-over cricket, after having experienced a massive dose of T20 cricket in the IPL that preceded this tournament.
The key question will be who will bat at No.4. All-rounder Vijay Shankar looks a likely candidate, but he got injured during nets as he was hit on the forearm and walked away in pain. His injury was being assessed. Should Shankar not be ready in time or if he fails on Saturday and in the second warm-up against Bangladesh at Cardiff, KL Rahul could step in.
This outing could also be of immense use to Kuldeep Yadav. Indian captain Virat Kohli had termed Yadav and Yuzuvendra Chahal as the 'pillars of India's bowling.' The Chinaman bowler, however, is suffering from a severe crisis of confidence after being hammered around in the IPL, before he was eventually dropped by the Kolkata Knight Riders after seven games.
With Kedar Jadhav likely to miss this game as he recuperates from injury, Rahul and Shankar both may get a go. Reserve wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik too could get a look in. World Cup warm-ups may not mean much in terms of form, but then the top three of the Indian batting - openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and skipper Virat Kohli - would love to get a few runs under their belt before India play their first game, against South Africa on June 5.
It would be interesting to see how Kohli rotates his only three specialist fast bowlers- Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the two warm-up games. The trio, after all, has to stay fit and fresh to fire in an extended tournament.
With Hardik Pandya around, the warm-ups, in fact, may give Kohli an idea about which of his two seamers he would prefer, should he want to play both Kuldeep and Chahal at all times.
Coming refreshed after a break, New Zealand too would want its big guns, skipper Kane Williamson, opener Martin Guptill and veteran batsman Ross Taylor, to find runs soon.
During the World Cup, both the teams clash on June 13 at Nottingham. Maybe, this game would tell them a few things they would want to know about each other.
Under Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri, India haven't treated warmup games too seriously, but then, one is talking about preparing for the World Cup here. Perhaps, considering the enormity of the occasion, they would shed that approach.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (capt), Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Rohit Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), Tom Blundell (wk), Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wk), Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
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