India won the toss and elected to field first in the opening ODI against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Wednesday. Captain Shubman Gill confirmed that India have opted for a pace-heavy attack, going in with four fast bowlers and two all-rounders.Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav have missed out on the playing XI as India look to exploit the conditions in Auckland. Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh and Naman Dhir are among the players featuring in India’s combination, with Axar Patel providing the second all-round option.Explaining his decision at the toss, Gill said: “We’re going to bowl first. A little bit of overcast, if there’s any reduction in the overs, it’s always good to have a target on the board.”
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Gill also highlighted the importance of the series in India’s preparations for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.“Extremely important, I’d say. The conditions that we are going to get here would be a lot more similar to the ones in South Africa as compared to other parts of the world. So in terms of that, it’ll be a really good experience for us,” he said.New Zealand, meanwhile, have made a change at the top of the order, with Tim Seifert coming in for Devon Conway, who is recovering from a head knock sustained during training.Captain Mitchell Santner confirmed that Conway was making progress but would sit out the opening encounter.“Conway’s doing well. Obviously a bit of a head knock yesterday. So he’s just going to rest up and he’s obviously not playing today,” Santner said.Seifert will open alongside Will Young, while Henry Nicholls completes New Zealand’s top three.Santner also pointed to the opportunities created by squad rotation amid a demanding international schedule.“With the schedules in both teams, it’s been a little bit more rotation than probably would be usually. But like I said, it gives guys opportunities,” he said.The toss was delayed by 20 minutes and eventually took place at 2:50 PM local time (7:20 AM IST). The live action will begin at 3:10 PM local time, 10 minutes later than the scheduled start.Teams:New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy, Blair TicknerIndia (Playing XI): Shubman Gill(c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh
