New Zealand opt to bowl, India hand debuts to Arshdeep and Malik

Toss New Zealand chose to bowl vs India

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson opted to bowl in the first ODI in Auckland. On a drop-in pitch with unique, short boundaries, the hosts went in with four seamers in Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne. It was a slightly different balance for New Zealand with James Neesham out with a niggle.

"Each game is an opportunity to build the side," Williamson said at the toss, as the teams start their build-up for the 2023 ODI World Cup, which is less than 12 months away.

"I would have loved to bowl first as the wicket is a bit sticky," India's stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan said, "but no issues batting first."

The series is part of the World Cup Super League. While India have automatically qualified for the World Cup by virtue of being hosts, New Zealand are sitting pretty with 11 wins from 15 games.

New Zealand: 1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Tom Latham (wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Adam Milne, 11 Lockie Ferguson

India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Sanju Samson, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Arshdeep Singh, 10 Umran Malik, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal