India vs New Zealand opened their five-match ODI series at Eden Park in Auckland on Wednesday, 4 November, with India captain Shubman Gill winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Gill pointed to overcast conditions and said batting second would help if overs were lost, in a match that started at 7:30 am IST.
India vs New Zealand is the first five-game ODI series between the sides since March 2019, and it doubles as early preparation for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. India named four fast bowlers for the opener, with Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep Singh in the attack, and Naman Dhir and Axar Patel as the two all-rounders.
“We’ll bowl first, bit of overcast weather, and in case there’s a reduction of overs, it’s good to chase. The conditions here are going to be similar to SA (where the WC is happening) compared to some other places. We are going with Anshul, Auqib, Gurnoor, Arshdeep as the bowlers with Naman and Axar as the allrounders,” Gill said at the toss.
The match also marked the return of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to India’s ODI side. Both veterans were named in the playing eleven, with Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul forming the rest of the top order. India vs New Zealand had last met in the shorter format, where India won the T20I series 3-2 despite losing the final match in Hamilton.
India vs New Zealand playing elevens at Eden Park
India: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh.
New Zealand: Tim Seifert, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy, Blair Tickner.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner said his side also picked four fast bowlers for the match. “We’ve got to go again on another good pitch. With the schedules, there’s been a bit more rotation. Conway is doing well. He is going to rest up and obviously not going to play today. So Seifert gets a chance and like India, we also have four pacers,” Santner said.
India vs New Zealand injury lists before the opener
Both teams arrived at Eden Park for the India vs New Zealand opener with injury problems. New Zealand opener Devon Conway was ruled out of the first ODI after colliding with Matt Henry during a training session at Eden Park, and New Zealand Cricket later confirmed that Conway had suffered a concussion. Mark Chapman and Rachin Ravindra were already out of the series with injuries, and Henry Nicholls came into the squad for the first three matches.
India were without Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, and Prasidh Krishna was also ruled out with an injury. The absences left Gill with a young pace attack, and the decision to bowl first put that attack to work early on a pitch that had produced a high scoring T20I at the same ground days earlier. Glenn Phillips, who scored a record 341 runs in the T20I series, was the batter India had to stop.
India vs New Zealand will play the second ODI in Wellington on 7 November and the third in Hamilton on 10 November, before the final two matches at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on 13 and 15 November. Gill will lead India in the first three matches, and Shreyas Iyer will take over as captain for the last two, as part of a split squad plan that also keeps one eye on the two-Test series starting in Wellington on 19 November.
India vs New Zealand and the World Cup build-up
The series matters for India’s World Cup planning because it is the first long ODI assignment in conditions close to those expected in South Africa next year. Gill said before the match that the top four was settled, with Axar Patel and KL Rahul to fill the number five and six spots depending on the match situation. The flexible middle order is one of the combinations India want to test across five matches.
For New Zealand, the India vs New Zealand series is a chance to measure themselves against the side that beat them in the knockouts of the last two white-ball World Cups. Santner leads a squad that mixes experience with new faces, and the home side will want to use Eden Park, where the highest ODI score remains 340 from 2007, to set the tone. The first India vs New Zealand ODI began under grey skies, with India bowling first and New Zealand batting first in front of a home crowd.