Ishan Kishan Likely To Play In Middle-Order As India Face Plucky New Zealand: Report

17.01.2023 - 14:13 sports.ndtv.com

Having stirred a debate after being left out despite his world record double hundred, Ishan Kishan is expected to be back in the playing eleven, albeit in a different batting position, when India face a stern test against New Zealand in the three-match ODI series, beginning Wednesday.

Kishan had to sit out of the Sri Lanka series despite scoring the fastest double hundred in the history of ODIs, against Bangladesh in the preceding series.

Shubman Gill, who was rewarded for his consistency and picked ahead of Ishan to open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma, made the most of the opportunities with scores of 70, 21 and 116 in the Sri Lanka series.

No changes are expected to the opening combination against the Black Caps but KL Rahul's unavailability due to personal reasons opens up a slot for Kishan as he is also expected to keep wickets.

cricket India Cricket Team as Rohit Sharma Ishan Kishan New Zealand India Sri Lanka Bangladesh

The Indian team management could consider playing Shubman Gill in the middle order ahead of Suryakumar Yadav in the first Test against Australia after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the series opener due to a back injury. Iyer failing to recover from back spasms will certainly open one spot in the Indian batting order and the choice will be between Surya, a career middle order batter who has the X-factor and Gill, who has mostly opened for the national team in Tests.

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