Big picture - Cricket plays second fiddle

Wellington has a sign similar to the famous old one in Hollywood, just with the last few letters shown to be flying away. India experienced this legendary wind earlier on the tour during the T20Is. Now they'll have that and rain.
New Zealand's pre-match practice session had to be moved indoors to Wellington college with weather playing spoilsport. Cricket might not be their biggest concern though with Saturday being election day and preliminary results expected around the time of the second innings. India's players might be experiencing split focus as well. The IPL retention deadline is on November 17. Some of them might already have been told whether they're staying or going.
Still, the overarching goal of getting ready for the ODI World Cup next year should keep the players' attention from wandering too far. Eden Park offered a glimpse into how the pitches in Johannesburg might behave and Virat Kohli secured an early birthday present for himself. He turned 38 on Thursday and still holds the key to India's ODI batting line-up.
New Zealand, struck down by injury and the need to rotate their players with an eye on the four-Test series against Australia next month, were slow to get off the mark in the T20Is but showed they could catch up. Mitchell Santner would want them to do it again, this time while the series is alive.

Form guide

New Zealand: LLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WLWWL

Players to watch: Arshdeep Singh and Will Young

Arshdeep Singh has played 19 ODIs in four years but 11 of those matches have come in the last two. India are trying to arm themselves with as varied a bowling attack as possible with the 2027 World Cup in mind and paying particular attention to a man who, at least in T20Is, has shown an affinity for taking on the pressure moments.
Will Young was massive to New Zealand's 3-0 Test series victory over India in 2024. His discipline at the top of the order allowed his team-mates to face the red ball when it was older and easier to manipulate. The white ball doesn't pose as many problems elsewhere in the world, but in New Zealand it does, making Young's skills crucial.

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Team news: Reddy off for Test prep

Nitish Kumar Reddy has joined the India A side in New Zealand to prepare for the Test series that starts on November 19. Mohammed Siraj, who has played only four of the team's 13 ODIs this year, seems to have slipped down the ODI pecking order with the emergence of other swing bowlers with better batting ability.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill (capt), 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Axar Patel, 6 KL Rahul (wk), 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Anshul Kamboj, 9 Auqib Nabi, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Gurnoor Brar
New Zealand have lost a third top-order batter in Devon Conway to injury and might give consideration to Michael Bracewell though he generally plays lower down.
New Zealand: 1 Will Young, 2 Tim Seifert, 3 Henry Nicholls, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mitchell Santner (capt), 8 Nathan Smith, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Blair Tickner

Pitch and conditions: Big hit down the ground

Hnry stadium has long straight boundaries and short square ones - essentially the opposite of Eden Park - so bowlers will need to adjust their lengths for at least as long as they're on the field given showers are forecast throughout the day.

Stats and trivia

  • India have won only two ODIs series against New Zealand in New Zealand - 2019 and 2009.
  • Arshdeep Singh has played nearly 40% of his List A cricket at the highest level possible.
  • Young came into the ODIs against India with one fifty in eight innings across formats.
  • Seifert, having made his ODI debut in January 2019, will face his 100th ball in the format on Friday. He is three runs away from 100.

Quotes

"One-day cricket you obviously try and take wickets early with more traditional bowling, but definitely at the death we talk about different plans - although I won't tell ya."
New Zealand fast bowler Blair Tickner is keeping his aces firmly up his sleeve