New Zealand vs India - match abandoned
New Zealand's 11 series-winning streak at home - the second-longest in bilateral men's ODIs - came to an end with no play possible in the third ODI against India in Hamilton on Tuesday. Coming into the third ODI 2-0 behind, New Zealand can now only hope to draw the series in the two matches in Mount Manganui over the weekend before the two teams start their two-Test series.
It started to rain in Hamilton on the afternoon before the match, and rarely let up after. The ground was in such good order that the groundstaff took little time to get the surface ready for play when there was a brief break in the downpour.
India won the toss during that time yet again, making it seven out of eight on this tour, and asked New Zealand to bat first in what was hoped, at the time, to be a 40-over game. Even before the interviews were done at the toss, though, the rain returned and never really stopped for long enough to let the groundstaff get the covers off.
With cramped schedules, New Zealand's home summer has been squeezed into the spring for a full India tour before they themselves travel to Australia. Even for spring time, New Zealand has been rainier than usual, and we have been lucky to get in two curtailed but completed ODIs in the last week.
However, the outlook for Mount Maunganui, which will host matches on Friday and Sunday, is much better and should make for completed ODIs.
This, though, was the last match for Shubman Gill, the Test captain who will switch over to intense red-ball nets to prepare for that series. Shreyas Iyer will captain the side in Gill's absence. New Zealand, who had scheduled for Matt Henry to do the same, have given him some extra time with the national team medical staff after he injured himself in a collision with Devon Conway on the eve of the series.