India's predicted playing XI for the 1st ODI vs New Zealand ft. Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli

India are all set to take on New Zealand in the first ODI of the five-match series. The encounter will be contested at Eden Park on Wednesday, November 4.

The Men in Blue will be without Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya for this series. Fast bowlers Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna won't be in action either. Nevertheless, India are expected to put out a strong playing XI, at least for the first three ODIs.

India’s squad for the New Zealand ODIs: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan.

On that note, here is India's predicted playing XI for the first ODI against New Zealand.

Openers: Shubman Gill (c) and Rohit Sharma

India's opening combination is straightforward. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill have been their first-choice partnership for a while now, with the former finding a way to score runs even as he nears 40.

Middle Order: Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir

India have tried to bat until No. 8 in recent times, meaning that both Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir are likely to feature alongside Axar Patel. Captain Gill has already mentioned that Axar may be used as a floater to break up the posse of right-handers in the top five.

Needless to say, Virat Kohli will bat at No. 3, followed by Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. Ishan Kishan should serve as Rahul's backup for now, while Ruturaj Gaikwad is unlikely to be part of the XI as well.

Lower Order: Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar

India went in without Kuldeep Yadav at times during their previous white-ball series against the West Indies. New Zealand's batters have done well against the left-arm wrist-spinner, who may just be dropped for the series opener.

Mohammed Siraj, Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep Singh are the straightforward choices to be picked as India's specialist fast bowlers. Auqib Nabi and Anshul Kamboj offer some batting ability, but their lack of bowling attributes means that they are primed to be viewed as backups for now.

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