World Cup 2019, India v New Zealand: One change which both teams could make
The 18th match of the ICC World Cup 2019 will see India take on New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday. Both India and New Zealand are unbeaten so far in the tournament. India have beaten South Africa and Australia, while New Zealand have triumphed over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Leading up to the World Cup, New Zealand and India featured in a bilateral series in New Zealand, with India winning it 4-1. However, New Zealand bowled out India for 179 runs in a warm-up game and won the match convincingly by six wickets.
In this article, we will look at one change which both teams could make, ahead of Thursday's mega-clash.
New Zealand - Henry Nicholls in place of Colin Munro
Barring a fifty in New Zealand’s opening game against Sri Lanka, Colin Munro has thus far failed to make an impact in ODIs since the start of the year. When India toured New Zealand earlier this year, Indian pacers had the wood over Munro – allowing him to score only 70 runs across four ODIs at an average of 17.50.
Even in the warm-up match against India, Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Munro early into the innings with an accurate yorker. In his last two innings against Bangladesh and Afghanistan (lweaker teams as compared to India), he struggled to find his rhythm before getting out in the 20s.
New Zealand can replace Munro with Henry Nicholls, who has a better ODI record than Munro and can provide stability to New Zealand at the top of the order. Nicholls averages 35.48 (9.44 runs per innings more than Munro) from 41 matches and has eight fifties and one hundred to his name.
Also read - World cup all time records