3 Reasons why India will not win the ODI series against New Zealand

India's preparation for the 2019 ICC World Cup has begun with the three-match ODI series against Australia. India clashed against Australia today at the Sydney Cricket Ground and suffered defeat after the batsman failed to chase the target of 289.

Australia has taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and India would need to show better fight in the remaining two games.

The next one-dayer will be played at the Adelaide Oval on 15th followed by the final game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 18th January.

Once the One-Day series is concluded, Team India will fly to New Zealand for five ODIs followed by three T20I games, which will be concluded by February 10th.

There are plenty of things to ponder for Team India considering the fact that the defeat against Australia was against a relatively inexperienced side. Australia thoroughly dominated India in all the departments and Team India would need to turn things around if they have any hope of winning the ODI series.

India would be touring New Zealand after 4 years and would want to deliver better results compared to the last series in 2014.

In the previous tour, India lost the 5 match ODI series 4-0, with one game ending up as a Tie. New Zealand are having a dream run at home as they have whitewashed Sri Lanka in the 3 match series and will start as obvious favorites to win the series.

In this article, we look at three reasons why New Zealand will win the ODI series against India.

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#3 Absence of Bumrah

Bumrah has been rested for the New Zealand tour

Jasprit Bumrah, who had a tremendous run in Australia in the recently concluded Test Series, has been rested for the One Day series as well as the New Zealand series. The Indian fast bowler was a sensation as he picked up 78 wickets across all formats in the year of 2018 and emerged as the highest wicket-taker across all formats in the calendar year.

Bumrah has been the key to India's success and his absence will be felt by Team India as they taken on Kiwis. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami were taken to the cleaners by the Kiwi batsmen last time around and this will certainly play on the minds of Indian bowlers going into the series.

#2 Lack of Fire Power in the Middle Order

Pandya has been suspended due to compliance issues

Team India boasts of strong top order with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. The three batsmen have scored the bulk of the runs last year and have won countless games for the team.

However, the middle order is a bit of a concern as there is not much of consistency and firepower with the likes of Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik not being able to finish matches on regular occasions.

Further, the absence of Hardik Pandya due to compliance issues has caused a big void in the middle order that needs to be fulfilled. Ravindra Jadeja is unable to provide the much required late order impetus along with MS Dhoni who looks to be well past his prime.

Rishabh Pant, who has been in tremendous form, has been left out of the New Zealand series and his absence is certainly a concern for Team India and this could well play into the hands of New Zealand and will give them a huge edge over India.

#1 Home Advantage for Kiwis aided by Strong Batting and Bowling fire power

New Zealand have whitewashed Sri Lanka in the ODI series

Of late, New Zealand has been in red hot form in all the three formats at home. In the last couple of years, they have convincingly won series against Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka. This is largely due to the balanced side that they possess.

The likes of Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Jimmy Neesham have all hit a purple patch with the bat and have been in heavy run-scoring form. New Zealand has consistently scored at more than 6 runs per over and have put up in excess of 300 in almost every game.

When it comes to their bowling, they possess one of the best fast bowling duos in the form of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, who have dented the opposition with their pace bowling.

The likes of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner have picked up wickets in the middle stages and it can be concluded that New Zealand has all their bases covered going ahead into the series.

Team India will have stern challenges ahead and will need to pull up their socks and play out of their skins to have any chances of winning the series.