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Team India's road to the 2023 World Cup began with an ODI against New Zealand in Auckland on Friday, November 25. The Men in Blue had a rocky start to their journey as they suffered a seven-wicket loss thanks to Tom Latham and Kane Williamson's mammoth partnership.
A few Indian players performed well in the series opener. Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill notched up fifties, while Umran Malik made an impression on ODI debut. Washington Sundar came up with a promising all-round showing as well.
However, others failed to deliver. On that note, here are three Indian players who flopped in the first ODI against New Zealand.
#3 Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant's T20I form is a serious problem for Team India, and he needs to ensure that his ODI returns don't go along the same route. The southpaw, who has been superb in the 50-over format since the start of 2021, appears to be in a bad patch at the moment.
In the first ODI, Pant walked in at No. 4 and looked all at sea. He stayed leg-side of the ball almost always and seemed completely out of his depth against the New Zealand pacers. Lockie Ferguson eventually sent him back to the pavilion for a 23-ball 15 as the left-hander heaved across the line in ungainly fashion.
Pant needs to get his act together, and solving his apparent fitness issues might be the first course of action.
#2 Suryakumar Yadav
A contrasting case presents itself at #2 on this list. Suryakumar Yadav, unlike Pant, is in an unbelievable purple patch in T20I cricket right now. The top-ranked T20I batter in the world, SKY, has no reason to not succeed in white-ball cricket.
Unfortunately, though, Suryakumar's ODI returns have been hugely underwhelming. He has scores of six, 27, 16, 13, nine, eight, and four runs in his last seven innings in the format, with the latest being a soft dismissal to Ferguson. A classic seaming delivery in the channel produced an outside edge, which was safely held at first slip.
There have been theories floating around that classic Test-match lengths could see the back of Suryakumar early. There may be some truth to that, and the talented batter's ODI spot is in jeopardy.
#1 Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal has been disappointing for almost two years now at the international level. The first ODI against New Zealand clearly indicated that the leg-spinner is not in good rhythm at the moment.
Introduced shortly after the first powerplay, Chahal produced a terrible spell. He dished out a plethora of short deliveries, with the Kiwi batters being more than happy to target the square boundaries in Auckland. Later on in his spell, the veteran bowler lost his line regularly, with Latham employing the sweep to good effect.
Chahal's 10 overs ended up costing 67 runs. Even though New Zealand didn't need to attack him towards the end of his quota, some poor deliveries worsened his figures.
Honorable Mention: Arshdeep Singh
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