Virat Kohli confirms openers for 1st ODI against New Zealand
India suffered a setback after regular opener Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the ongoing New Zealand tour with a calf injury. Consequently, Mayank Agarwal has been roped in as his replacement for the three ODIs, starting Wednesday. As he prepares for his ODI debut, skipper Virat Kohli has confirmed that Mayank, along with Prithvi Shaw, would be making their debuts tomorrow. Here's more.
Shaw and Mayank in line for ODI debut
Besides confirming that both, Shaw and Mayank, would be making their debut, Kohli asserted that they would also be the opening pair for the tie. As for KL Rahul, he would be pushed down to number five and would also be the wicket-keeper. "KL will play in the middle-order, we want him to get used to that role and keep as well," said Kohli.
Mayank has had a fine career so far
Mayank has played nine Tests so far, scoring 872 runs at an average of 67.1. He is yet to make his ODI debut. However, he does have a fine List A career, having played 82 matches and scoring 3,959 runs at an average of 50.1. He was also a part of India A's 50-over tour of NZ, where he scored 90 from three matches.
Shaw, too, has been phenomenal in limited-overs
Meanwhile, Shaw is making his international return since October 2018. He has since made a fine comeback, as he continues to impress for India A in New Zealand, where, in three List A matches, he has scored 105 runs at an average of 35. Overall, he has scored 1,300 runs in 30 List A matches at a strong average of 43.33.
India's ODI schedule and squad vs Kiwis
Following is India's schedule for three ODIs against Kiwis (7.30 AM IST): 1st ODI: February 5 (Hamilton) 2nd ODI: February 8 (Auckland) 3rd ODI: February 11 (Mount Maunganui) India's ODI squad: KL Rahul(wk), Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli(c), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Prithvi Shaw, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav, Shardul Thakur.
