Dharamsala, Oct 22 : India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first against New Zealand at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium here on Sunday.
India made two changes by bringing in Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammad Shami instead of Shardul Thakur and the injured Hardik Pandya. This is the first match for Suryakumar and Shami in this world cup.
Asked the reason to opt for fielding first, Rohit said, “We’ll bowl first. No reason, we were here training yesterday and felt a bit of dew come in. Looks like a good pitch, we’ll back ourselves to chase,” he said.
On India being an undefeated team in the tournament, Rohit said, “Quite important to keep the momentum going, forget what happened in the past. Need to be at it all the time. This is one place everyone wants to come and play, beautiful weather and nice stadium.”
NZ Captain Tom Latham said he too wanted to field first due to the dew factor while batting under the lights.
Whoever wins today’s match, they will take a significant psychological edge as both the teams have been unbeaten in the tournament so far.
Teams
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
