India vs New Zealand Prediction and Odds: First ODI

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Two in-form white ball teams will clash this Wednesday for the first of six fast-paced matches over the next fortnight. With India coming off a dominant series win over Sri Lanka, and New Zealand wrapping up a hard fought month in Pakistan, both sides are tuned in to their best cricket and should hit the ground running in this series.

We look at all the best bets to make on the first game of this three match ODI series between India and New Zealand.

These odds from William Hill were correct at the time of writing.

India vs New Zealand – Match Prediction

Here are the best two bets our experts suggest placing on the first ODI between India and New Zealand this Wednesday:

India to Win @ 2/5 (1.40)

Since 2010, India have won 22 of the 25 bilateral series they’ve played at home. This is a team that takes some beating, and while New Zealand have come close on a couple of occasions, twice forcing them to a decider in this time, India should have too much for the visitors here. Adding to New Zealand’s challenge is the fact that Tim Southee, Kane Williamson and Trent Boult will all be absent from this series, leaving a lot on the shoulders of some of their younger players.

India to Have Highest Opening Partnership @ 4/6 (1.67)

The last three times India have batted, they have had opening partnerships of 143, 33 and 95. New Zealand, on the other hand, have had scored 1, 2 and 43 to begin their last three matches. Given the mercurial nature of both Finn Allen and Devon Conway, chances are that one of them will again misfire, and India will have the highest opening partnership in this match.

India vs New Zealand First ODI Preview

Given these two bets, here’s a little more background on how each of these sides are playing at the moment and what their squads are looking like.

India

Rewind the clock to December 2022, and India were being humiliated by their little brothers Bangladesh, losing 2-1 in an ODI series. Since then, the fire has been set under the men in blue, the consequences of which Sri Lanka bore over the past fortnight. Not only did India defeat Sri Lanka 3-0, but they handed out the largest ever ODI defeat in history just three days ago.

New Zealand

New Zealand have also been in the neighbourhood, playing a Test and ODI series against Pakistan. While the Kiwis were the better side over the past month, it took until the final ODI to prove that on the scoreboard, winning the ODI series 2-1 with a hard fought two wicket win over Pakistan. They’ll be eager to take that momentum into India, and use plenty of spin to target India’s big hitting top six.

India vs New Zealand Head to Head

New Zealand have won the last three completed ODIs between these two nations. However, India lead the overall ODI head to head 55-49, with one tie.

India vs New Zealand First ODI Likely Playing XIs

Here’s how we predict the line ups will look on game day for the first ODI between India and New Zealand:

India

1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Ishan Kishan, 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Umran Malik.

New Zealand

1 Finn Allen, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Henry Nicholls, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Henry Shipley, 10 Doug Bracewell, 11 Lockie Ferguson.

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