Team News: India
India were dealt a major blow when Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the remainder of this tour owing to the calf injury he picked up in the final T20I. The Men in Blue are already missing Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar.
Mayank Agarwal was named as Rohit's replacement for the ODI series on Tuesday afternoon. And skipper Virat Kohli outlined that they will stick to the strategy adopted against Australia in Rajkot, where KL Rahul kept wickets and batted at number five.
Kohli had more or less confirmed Shaw's ODI debut in that scenario, and now India will probably have two openers debuting. Mayank Agarwal will open the innings along with Shaw while KL Rahul will bat in the middle order.
The last time such a situation arose was 2016, when KL Rahul and Karun Nair opened for India on their debuts in Zimbabwe.
Sunil Gavaskar and Sudhir Naik (1974) against England and Parthasarthy Sharma and Dilip Vengsarkar (1976) against New Zealand are the other previous instances.
Such a move would set up India's batting line-up with Kohli at number three and Shreyas Iyer at number four. Rahul will bat at number five.
In the nets on Tuesday, Manish Pandey batted along with Kohli and Iyer, ahead of Shivam Dube, Rishabh Pant and Kedar Jadhav.
If Pandey plays, the lower order will be a curious mix with Dube, Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja vying for the all-rounder's spot.
In the bowling department, three pacers will probably be the norm once again.
Kuldeep Yadav, who sat out the entire T20I series, is slated for a comeback given his performance against Australia at home.
Team News: New Zealand
For New Zealand, inspirational skipper Kane Williamson has joined the long list of injured along with the likes of Trent Boult.
New Zealand will have some re-think before finalising their playing eleven too.
Tom Latham will lead the side ahead of Tim Southee who was stand-in skipper during the last two T20Is. In Williamson's absence, they will look towards Ross Taylor for batting leadership.
The Black Caps will be rejuvenated though with the inclusion of all-rounder Jimmy Neesham while Colin de Grandhomme returns to the squad as well. Ish Sodhi is only there for the first ODI and the hosts could opt for a two-spinner attack given the slower surface at Seddon Park.
Keeper-batsman Tom Blundell and lanky pacer Kyle Jamieson are the only ones who don't have an ODI cap to their name.
Captains Speak: Virat Kohli
It is unfortunate that Rohit cannot be part of the ODI series, the impact he has had is there for everyone to see. We do not have any ODI tournaments to look up to, so it is ideal for him to get recovered.
In ODI cricket, Prithvi is definitely going to start, KL will play in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to keep and play in the middle.
There is a different approach to ODIs and T20Is. In ODIs, you do not play with that intensity which is used in T20Is. T20Is is more demanding, physically when you are tested more, your decision making is also tested more.
Our fitness levels are there for everyone to seen and it is helping us to make the decisions better and faster. T20I cricket is also demanding in its own way.
Captains Speak: Tom Latham
I would look to stick to the plans which are there in place. Fingers crossed, we can play a brand of cricket that we have always played with.
The results were disappointing for the T20I side but it's nice that we have a slightly new group for the ODIs. It is important to not change our plans entirely, we have played good ODI cricket in the past, it is important to stick to our guns.
Winning can be a habit, unfortunately, we have been on the wrong side of the results. I guess the beauty is that we have put ourselves in a position from where we can win the match. Hopefully, if we get a chance to win the game, we would look to grab the opportunity.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain and wk), Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Jimmy Neesham, Scott Kuggeleijn, Tom Blundell, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Hamish Bennett, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Mark Chapman.
Dream11 Fantasy Tips:
Batsmen: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mark Chapman, Shreyas Iyer, Tom Latham
Bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Mohammed Shami, Ish Sodhi, Hamish Bennett, Kuldeep Yadav.
All-rounders: Jimmy Neesham
Wicketkeeper: KL Rahul.
Timings
The match starts at 7.30 AM IST.
TV Channels: StarSports Network.
Live Streaming: Hotstar