India vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI: Toss Update: Williamson elects to field; Hooda, Chahar replace Samson & Thakur

Hamilton, Nov 27: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and invited India skipper Shikhar Dhawan to bat first in the second one-day international here at Seddon Park on Sunday (November 27).

Having taken a lead of 1-nil with an emphatic 7-wicket win in the opening ODI, the Blackcaps should be looking to continue their good show and seal the series. On the other hand, the visitors will aim to bounce back and square off the series and set a decider on November 30th.

The hosts - on a 13-match unbeaten streak at home in the ODIs - have made one change in their playing eleven for the second game while the Indians have made a couple of changes. Sanju Samson and all-rounder Shardul Thakur have been rested while Deepak Hooda and Deepak Chahar have replaced them, giving the captain some more bowling options.

After winning the toss, Williamson said, "We are gonna have a bowl. The surface has been under covers a little, so hopefully our seamers can extract whatever little help they can get. We are playing the extra slow option today in Michael Bracewell in place of Adam Milne. He (Southee) is racking up the numbers in all formats and breaking a few records along the way, great achievement and a very special player for us. India batted well and got a competitive total on that surface, but I certainly liked the intent from the bowling attack, so hopefully, we can start strong again and build on from the last performance."

India skipper Dhawan said, "We would have bowled first as there's moisture in the wicket. Even in the last game, the wicket was seaming for the first 10-15 overs, we got to keep the positive intent and go for the runs. We got 2 changes. Instead of Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar comes in and Deepak Hooda comes in place of Sanju Samson. We only need 10 per cent of improvement and it makes a huge impact and especially in the death bowling, we got to be a bit more smarter."

New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson.

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Pitch Report: "Looks like a very hard deck, can sense 300 again. Maybe a little bit of moisture early because the covers have just come off. It's a good wicket and unlike the start-stop nature of this surface, there's enough covering of grass which means it could come on nicely onto the bat," reckon Ajay Jadeja and Ashish Nehra.