India vs New Zealand 2017: India's predicted playing XI for first ODI

After beating Australia 4-1 in the recently-concluded ODI series, Virat Kohli and his men have turned their attention to the visiting New Zealanders as they take on the Kiwis in a three-match ODI series starting in Mumbai on October 22.

Batsman KL Rahul and pacers Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav were excluded from the squad while wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and pacer Shardul Thakur made the cut.

Indian ODI squad to face New Zealand: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzi Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur.

There are a couple of slots in the team that are up for grabs and few players are competing to cement their places in the XI. Let us take a look at India's playing XI for the first ODI of the series.

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Openers

Without a doubt, India have the best opening combination in ODIs among all the teams in the world, thanks to the presence of three of the most consistent batsmen going around at the moment.

Unfortunately, only two out of the three batsmen can find a place at the top of the order in the Indian playing XI. Rohit Sharma is an automatic choice to open in ODIs, thanks to his performances over the last few years.

Shikhar Dhawan has been Rohit's first-choice opening partner and the southpaw has been in good knick, scoring heavily in the Champions Trophy and in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, he was forced to miss the ODI series against Australia and in his place, Ajinkya Rahane opened the innings with Rohit and scored four fifties in four consecutive matches.

Ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand, Rohit's opening partner still remains a mystery. The Indian cricket team has always favoured first-choice players even if the replacements have done well. Going by that, Dhawan is likely to open the batting with Rohit.

Middle-order

Unless he gets injured on the eve of the match, skipper Virat Kohli is a certainty in the Indian playing XI. After missing out in the ODI series against the Aussies, Kohli will look to punish the Kiwi bowlers and make up for the failure (by his standards) in the previous series.

Following the Indian skipper will be Manish Pandey, for whom this is a do-or-die series. The Karnataka batsman has been facing a lot of criticism of late because of inconsistency and a failure in the upcoming series will seal his fate.

Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has been solid in recent matches and is still crucial for the Indian side in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup. He will look to continue his good work in the New Zealand series.

All-rounders

It was around this time last year that Kedar Jadhav established himself as one of India's bowling options. He took wickets for fun against the New Zealand line-up last year and once again, is set to take on the same opposition.

Though he has contributed with the ball on a consistent basis, his performances with the bat have not been consistent enough for someone who bats at number 6 for an International team. He will look to turn things around when he takes the field against the Kiwis.

Over the last few months, Hardik Pandya has established himself as an important member of the Indian team. There is no way he is going to sit out of this playing XI.

Spinners

One of the main reason for India's win over Australia last month was the performance of the Indian spinners. All three frontline spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzi Chahal and Axar Patel did a fantastic job for the team, especially in the middle overs as they choked the run flow and put pressure on the Aussie batsmen.

With all three spinners looking deadly, dropping one to accommodate the other two will be quite unfair. But, to maintain the balance of the team, only two spinners can feature and in all likelihood, both the wrist spinners, Chahal and Kuldeep will get the nod ahead of Axar.

Fast bowlers

After ages, the Indian team have got a handful of bowlers who can win matches for them on a consistent basis. In fact, the current fast bowling attack in both Tests and ODIs is the best the team have ever had. In spite of playing for just over a year, right-arm pacer Jasprit Bumrah is already one of the best bowlers going around at the moment. The Gujarat bowler is very good with the new ball and is lethal in the death overs with his variations.

His bowling partner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, has improved a lot as a limited-overs bowler and has been doing a fantastic job of late. Just like Bumrah, Bhuvi has a very good yorker and has the ability to make any batsman dance with the swing he generates with the new ball.

In all likelihood, both the fast bowlers will retain their places in the team, which means Shardul Thakur will be left out of the playing XI.