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After clinching the T20I series, Team India now ready themselves to take on New Zealand in the three ODIs. The first of which takes place on 25 November at Eden Park in Auckland. While Hardik Pandya led the team in the T20I series, Shikhar Dhawan will wear the captain’s hat in the three ODIs. It will be interesting to see how Dhawan goes about picking the players.
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer picked his choice of players for the final XI. Jaffer picked Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill as his two openers for the first ODI against New Zealand. The former India batter went with Shreyas Iyer for the No.3 slot while he picked Suryakumar Yadav as the fourth specialist batter.
For all-rounders, Jaffer picked Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, and Shardul Thakur. Deepak Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, and Umran Malik were his choice for three specialist pacers. Meanwhile, for the wicketkeeping role, Jaffer picked Rishabh Pant who will also play as Dhawan’s deputy. Sanju Samson was once again sidelined by Jaffer.
Star leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also could not find a place in Jaffer’s XI as the former India batter said that the shorter boundaries at Eden Park won’t favour wrist spinners. “No wrist spinners cos Eden Park has small boundaries. Backing Sundar & Hooda vs 4 NZ lefties,” explained Jaffer. “Bat deep with Chahar @ 9. ODIs at Eden park often decided by lower order cameos,” he further wrote.
Meanwhile, fans did not like Jaffer’s XI as it did not have Samson in it. “First time I am not happy about u. How come u excluded Sanju in the 11 ???”, wrote one user in the comment section. “Where is sanju samson??” wrote another.
