Live Cricket Score: New Zealand vs India, 4th ODI

Welcome to Cricbuzz’s live blog for the Hamilton ODI. Tweet to @prat1204 to participate.

Steady start

Dhawan has started off positively as usual while Rohit is taking his time. A four and a six for Dhawan so far, both off Matt Henry in the 3rd over. New Zealand have kept it relatively quiet otherwise. India are 20 for 0 after 5.

Toss and teams

New Zealand opt to bowl. “Looks like a good surface, hopefully, some dew will come later. The stats suggest it’s a chasing ground,” says Williamson. There’s no place for Munro, Ferguson and Southee; Ish Sodhi and Doug Bracewell were dropped from the squad a few days back. New Zealand have asked Henry Nicholls to open with Martin Guptill, Todd Astle comes in for Sodhi, and James Neesham populates the all-rounder’s spot with Colin de Grandhomme.

MS Dhoni is still unfit and fails to make the game. Mohammed Shami has been rested and Khaleel Ahmed, the left-arm seamer, gets a game. Rohit has retained both Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the XI.

In the lead-up to the game..

Mitch Santner talked about how India batsmen ‘hate getting out’ and they won’t get wickets on a play; they need to pick them. India’s fielding coach R Sridhar said that the team is looking to use these dead rubbers to try and give their reserve players a chance.

Each phase for Rohit Sharma ???? in ODIs… #NZvInd
1st 50 ODIs: 47 inns, 1135 runs, ave 31.53, 100/50: 2/5
2nd 50 ODIs: 48 inns, 1345 runs, ave 32.02, 100/50: 0/12
3rd 50 ODIs: 49 inns, 2557 runs, ave 59..47, 100/50: 8/11
in 49 ODIs: 49 inns, 2762 runs, ave 67.37, 100/50: 12/11

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 30, 2019

Rohit Sharma, 200 ODIs old

You age in numbers, even in cricket. Rohit is playing his 200th ODI today and what a career this has been. Wilting under the pressure of ‘talented’, Rohit found a new lease of life when MS Dhoni asked him to open, and here we have: one of the greatest ODI openers ever. You should check this stats tribute by Deepu Narayanan.

Who’s Shubman Gill?

The U-19 World Cup winner has constantly been in the news for all right reasons over the past 12 months, making rapid progress from the World Cup to IPL to domestic cricket to his senior team call-up for the NZ tour. Find out the how and whys of the rise and rise of Shubman Gill.

Shubman Gill will make his India debut. Looking forward to see him bat. Very promising. Good luck. #NZvInd @StarSportsIndia

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 31, 2019

Hello and welcome

Cricket might be the only sport that celebrates dead the way it does. In a parallel world, the match today would have invited doughballs for eyes after India gained an unassailable 3-0 lead, but look at us today: we’re on our couch, cuddling in that reject blanket in the living room and swiping away at the Cricbuzz app just as our family hates us for choosing cricket over morning jog yet another day.

Sigh. They won’t understand. There’s lot to look forward to in the game. Shubman Gill is making his debut, stand-in captain Rohit Sharma is playing his 200th ODI, India’s bating is playing without Virat Kohli, New Zealand have named a squad without Ish Sodhi, and Jimmy Neesham is in with a shout to play this game. While we wait for the toss, here’s the textual preview and the video preview that you must brush up on.

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