India vs New Zealand: Indian fans will have an opportunity to witness the dynamic duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma on the field with their appearance in the three-match series against New Zealand starting on January 11 (Sunday).
New Zealand’s stand-in ODI captain, Michael Bracewell, who was in Mumbai for an event, stated that it would be “silly to underestimate” Indian batting stalwarts in the ODI format.
Notably, Bracewell also felt that both Kohli and Rohit are likely to appear in next year’s ODI World Cup.
Kohli and Rohit, who recently displayed their rich form during the VHT (Vijay Hazare Trophy) matches for their respective domestic side, will be key players for India as they face ICC Champions Trophy finalists New Zealand in the series. The second and third ODIs will be played on January 14 and 18, respectively, at Rajkot and Indore.
“I’d like to see them (Rohit and Virat) play in the World Cup. They’re obviously still playing very good cricket so there’s no reason to stop,” Bracewell told the media on the sidelines of the New Zealand Cricket Golf Day, organised by NZC in partnership with TCM Sports here at the Willingdon Sports Club.
“They’re both playing beautifully, so why not? Their records speak for themselves, both individually and as a team. They’ve been involved in some great Indian sides and led that side with the bat. You’d be silly to underestimate them, that’s for sure,” he added.
Bracewell said it would be tricky to replace players like Santner but others will be required to play a similar role.
It Will Be A Struggle To Replace Someone Like Santner: Bracewell
Bracewell has been named captain for the series, with experienced players like Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra missing from the squad.
“It’s a tricky one. Whenever you’re missing players of say, Mitch Santner’s calibre, you’re always going to be struggling to replace them. So, you’re asking guys to come in and do their role as best as they can,” Bracewell said when asked about the unavailability of experienced players.
“You’re never going to be able to replace a guy like that. But if everyone mucks in and does their bit, then hopefully we can all work together and achieve great things on this tour,” Bracewell added.
With the T20 World Cup just over a month away, Bracewell said there’s still no lack of context to the ODI series.
“You have to be where your feet are and and take care of what’s in front of you. We’ve obviously got an important one-day series coming up against India,” he said.
“One-day cricket has a lot of different skill-sets involved in it. You have to be able to bat for long periods of time and then apply pressure. We’re gonna spend a little bit of time here leading into the World Cup so, that’s very valuable for us as a team and individually to get used to the conditions,” the 34-year-old added.