India stand-in captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand in the fifth and final ODI of the series at Wellington on Sunday.
After humbled in the previous ODI despite dominating the series until the third ODI, the visitors have three changes to their playing XI. The comforting news from the Indian camp is MS Dhoni is fit and he comes back in place of Dinesh Karthik. Dhoni missed the previous two ODI because of a hamstring niggle.
For the first time in the series, India have decided to go in with just one specialist spinner. Kuldeep Yadav has been replaced by seam bowling all-rounder Vijay Shankar, a move to strengthen the batting order a bit more in case the ball swings as much as it did in Hamilton. There is another change in the bowling department. Khaleel Ahmed makes way for Mohammed Shami.
"We admit we made mistakes in the last game and boys are determined. Important to assess conditions these days in the first 6-7 overs and take it on from there. If we bat well, we might get a good score," said Rohit Sharma.
New Zealand too have been forced to make a change in their playing XI that handed India their biggest defeat in terms of balls remaining. Opener Martin Guptill, who has failed to set the stage on fire in this series has been left out because of a back injury, meaning Collin Munro gets his spot back in the top of the order.
Interestingly New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said he would have liked to bowl first. "We were looking to have a bowl first, to take a bit out from the surface if possible. Obviously, it's a good surface prepared for two games," said Williamson.
New Zealand (Playing XI): Henry Nicholls, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham(w), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Colin de Grandhomme, Todd Astle, Matt Henry, Trent Boult
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal