India vs New Zealand 2019: Battle of the Heavyweights

#2 M.S. Dhoni vs Ross Taylor – The Ultimate finisher vs The long run finisher

Dhoni - The finisher is not finished yet

The year 2019 so far belonged to M.S. Dhoni. Against all odds, Dhoni scored 51,55 not out and 87 not out against Australia to enable India to win the series 2-1. Dhoni had shown a lot of temperament to anchor the Indian innings in the middle-order all the way to the finish line. He was unfazed by the mounting run-rate and kept things under control with his customary fashion of taking the game deep into the last over.

The promotion of Dhoni to No 4 position has given him a wonderful opportunity to ease himself into his innings without bothering much about the pace of his innings. The batting friendly conditions and the small grounds in New Zealand would enable Dhoni to improve upon his strike rate which at present is hobbling around 75.

The confidence that he would gain as a result of such increased strike rate would make him the first choice at No 4 even while chasing huge scores or even when batting first.

The continuous success of Dhoni at No 4 in the upcoming series would put an end to India’s most perennial problem going into the World Cup.

Ross Taylor - The real threat for Team India

Ross Taylor, like Dhoni, is a seasoned campaigner. Unlike Dhoni, Taylor is a regular No 4 for New Zealand for ages. He is the senior-most batsman in this New Zealand line-up. The opposition is never guaranteed of a win as long as Taylor is at the crease. Taylor exhibited his match-winning expertise last year against England when he scored an unbeaten 181 off 147 balls in the decider at Dunedin. From a score of 2 for 2, Taylor took charge of the chase of 336 and finished off the match in the last over.

Taylor has been in excellent form against Sri Lanka with scores of 54, 90 & 137. In ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, Taylor is ranked at No 3 and he would be the real threat for India in the series.