ICC World Cup 2019: Warm-Up Match, India vs New Zealand - Match Prediction

Indian National Cricket Team will take on New Zealand in the third warm-up match at the Kennington Oval to fine tune their combinations in the final leg of preparations ahead of the ICC World Cup 2019. The Men in Blues will look to acclimatise to the conditions before their World Cup opener against South Africa on June 5 at Southampton.

India look to settle no four debate

Although India went down against Australia in the last ODI series before the IPL, they have been consistent over the last two years. Virat Kohli & Co have defeated South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand at their home, which shows their dominance in world cricket. The second-ranked ODI team; however, will have to settle their middle order before the tournament commences. There have been a lot of debates with the second drop position over the years, and the management is yet to settle that. They have plenty of options in Vijay Shankar, KL Rahul, and Dinesh Karthik, and will look to pick one from them.

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On the bowling front, all eyes will be on Kuldeep Yadav. He has had a bad IPL and will look to regain his confidence in these practice games. The pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami have been India’s strength in the last few months, and the management will look forward to them to continue with their job.

On the other hand, New Zealand will also want to have a look at their players before they begin their campaign against Sri Lanka. Despite losing against India, they bounced back in style against  Bangladesh. The Kiwis under Kane Williamson have never had too much media attention and have concentrated on their job. They have some quality players in their ranks who can turn the heat on and will look to put India under pressure. They have more or less a settled squad and the management will want to give them enough opportunities to hit the strides.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Tom Latham is out of the warm-up games with an injury, and India’s Vijay Shankar suffered a minor injury during the practice session on May 24. There is no news about his participation in the game as of yet.

Date and Venue: May 24 (Saturday) at the Kennington Oval, London, 3:00 PM IST

Weather Conditions

The temperatures will hover around 18-20 degrees Celsius with a significant cloud cover during the game time. Besides, there are brief chances of shower pouring down as the game progresses. The cold weather is likely to assist the seamers, and both the sides will look to capitalise on that.

Match Prediction

Both India and New Zealand have quality players in their ranks who can turn things around single-handedly on any given day. However, going by the current records, Virat Kohli & his boys have had the upper hand over the Kiwis as they beat them 4-1 at their home.

As a result, the Indian National Cricket Team will have a slight advantage over New Zealand when both teams clash against each other at the Kennington Oval.