World Cup 2019: Match 18, Ind vs NZ, India's Today's Predicted Playing 11 & Key Players

Team India has suffered a major blow ahead of the match against New Zealand as Shikhar Dhawan has been ruled out of the encounter due to a thumb injury. This will force India to change the winning combination. Here is India's predicted playing XI for the match against New Zealand in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan.

Openers

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul

Rohit Sharma will look to extend his phenomenal run in the World Cup against New Zealand. Dhawan's injury will give KL Rahul a chance to play in his favored position, that of an opener.

Middle Order

Virat Kohli, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni

After a quiet game against South Africa, Virat Kohli played a classy inning of 82 runs against Australia. Dhoni has also looked in good touch in the tournament so far. India will have to decide between the experienced Dinesh Karthik and the '3-dimensional' Vijay Shankar as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan. Shankar is a favorite to start in the playing XI as the team's number four.

All-rounders

Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav

Hardik Pandya has played a couple of impressive cameos in the World Cup. Kedar Jadhav will look for an opportunity to bat against New Zealand.

Bowlers

Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

All the Indian bowlers have performed well for the team so far. While Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have bowled well in the powerplay and death overs, the spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have been able to get crucial wickets in the middle overs.

Key players

Rohit Sharma - Shikhar Dhawan's absence will put extra responsibility on the in-form Rohit Sharma.

Yuzvendra Chahal - Chahal has been amongst the wickets in World Cup 2019. He will have his task cut out against experienced Kiwi batsmen like Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose form wasn't great coming into the World Cup, has performed well in the first two games. He seems to have got back his lost mojo.

India's Predicted Playing XI

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah

Follow Sportskeeda for all the updates on World Cup time table, news, points table, live scores, most runs, world cup most wickets and fantasy tips.