Team India face rare series defeat at home as they grapple with a must-win situation going into today's second one-day international against New Zealand at Pune's MCA Stadium
MS Dhoni bats during a practice session on the eve of the second ODI against NZ
Going into the ODI series against New Zealand, India were clear favourites. Virat Kohli & Co. looked the superior team in the major departments - batting and bowling. Form was also on India's side after having beaten the Aussies 4-1 at home just a few days ago. All that changed though, following a convincing and surprising victory by the visitors in Mumbai on Sunday. Kohli's men find themselves in a must-win situation here going into the second ODI today.
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MS Dhoni bats during a practice session on the eve of the second ODI against New Zealand in Pune. Pic/PTI
A three-match series doesn't allow teams a lot of breathing space and another spirited performance from the Kiwis could seal the deal for Kane Williamson's boys. "We look at it as a big challenge right now. New Zealand compete exceptionally well; they had a fantastic partnership [in the Mumbai game] and they went on to win that game," said India's bowling coach Bharat Arun on the eve of the clash.
"It is a bigger challenge for us to come back, we know we have our plans in place and it is good testing ground for the team on how you come from behind and do well in the series," he added. For the hosts to stage a comeback, their spinners need to find a way to tackle the sweep-theory employed successfully by Tom Latham and Ross Taylor at Wankhede. The duo added 200 runs for the fourth wicket, which enabled the Kiwis chase down the 281-run target with an over to spare. The wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were largely ineffective, their one combined wicket costing 115 runs.
Latham swept and reverse swept them with a lot of success (35 runs from 20 balls using the sweep shot). Once the spinners shortened their lengths, he went deep in the crease to score square of the wicket. It would be interesting to see how Yadav and Chahal respond to this challenge on a slow Pune track, should India stick with them. "We have taken a good look at the videos, how they played the sweeps and things like these. Definitely, the plans would change for these batsmen," Arun said.
Arun obviously didn't reveal plans, but bringing in Axar Patel, who is a lot more difficult to sweep due to his flatter trajectory, could be a good option. The other aspect of India's gameplan that remains a 'corridor of uncertainty' is the batting order. They have tried the likes of KL Rahul, Manish Pandey at the No. 4 position in the recent past, but neither has been able to seal that spot. On Sunday, they tried Kedar Jadhav in that position, which wasn't a successful move either.
The last time Jadhav played on this ground for India, he scored a match-winning century against England in January this year. He has remained part of the team's gameplan in the shorter format ever since. But at times when he hasn't been used for his part-time off-spin, Jadhav's position in the playing XI has looked a bit in danger. It looks unlikely that the Jadhav would face the axe on Wednesday.
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