7 survivors from the last India-New Zealand ODI series played in India

After suffering a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of a rampaging Indian team in Tests, New Zealand will be out for revenge as the two teams face off in a 5-match ODI series. The last time the Kiwis came to India for an ODI series was in the 2010/11 season and a Gautam Gambhir-led home side thrashed them 5-0.

However, things have changed drastically since then and the Blackcaps have established themselves as one of the most dangerous teams in the 50-over format. The squads that have been picked by both India and New Zealand this time around also look very different compared to what they were back then.

This is primarily because of a number of senior players retiring and some youngsters making their way into the team. Some of the players from the 2010/11 series, though, have made it through and still represent their country in ODI cricket perhaps because they were in their early years at the time.

Here are 7 such players who are survivors from the last India-New Zealand ODI series played in India:

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#7 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma had just begun finding his feet in international cricket during the last series

Rohit Sharma is one of the players in the Indian squad for the upcoming New Zealand ODIs who also played during the 2010/11 series. The aggressive Indian opener was just 23 years old at the time and was included in the team for the last 2 matches of the 5-match ODI series.

Sharma got the chance to bat only once during his two appearances and he did quite decently with a 48-ball 44 in the 4^th ODI. No one had a clue back then that the prodigiously talented Mumbai batsman would become the only player to score 2 double hundreds in the format and also hold the record for the highest individual score.

#6 Martin Guptill

Martin Guptill was nowhere near being the dangerous batsman that he is today

New Zealand’s star opening batsman Martin Guptill was only 24 when his team previously played an ODI series in India. Although Guptill struggled to get runs just like his other teammates, he was the 2^nd highest run-getter for the Kiwis with 142 runs in 5 innings.

His best performance in the series came during the second game of the series when the right-hander top-scored with 70 in a team total of 258. Nearly 6 years down the line, Martin Guptill is now one of the mainstays of the New Zealand ODI batting line-up and also among the world’s finest limited-overs batsmen.

#5 Suresh Raina

Raina played just 2 matches in the 2010/11 ODI series

Suresh Raina, who will be making a comeback to the Indian one-day side after almost 12 months, also featured in the 2010/11 ODI series against New Zealand. A 23-year old Raina was part of the host team’s squad only for the first two matches after which he made way for other youngsters.

In his only innings of the series, the southpaw was dismissed quite cheaply for a score of 13 from 18 deliveries. However, Suresh Raina had already settled his spot in the ODI team at that point and therefore, this one-off poor performance did not have any bearing on his future career.

#4 Tim Southee

Tim Southee used to be a lively yet erratic young fast bowler in those days

Tim Southee is currently one of the key members of the New Zealand ODI team and forms a terrific new ball pairing with left-arm speedster Trent Boult. The last time the Kiwis played an ODI series in India, though, Southee was a young, charged-up fast bowler who had a tendency to spray the ball around a bit.

Out of the 3 matches that he played in the 2010/11 series, the seamer bowled only in 2 innings and picked up a solitary wicket while conceding his runs at 6.46 per over. Tim Southee has certainly matured with age, though, and was one of the stars for his country during their most successful World Cup campaign in 2015.

#3 Ross Taylor

Ross Taylor had established himself as a quality ODI player

Having made his debut in the year 2006, Ross Taylor was already one of the senior members of the New Zealand team when they came to India previously. Taylor’s performance in the series, though, was anything but impressive as he could manage just 138 runs in 5 innings.

His highest score of 66 came in the very first ODI of the 5-match series as he threatened to take the game away from India but was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. However, despite his failure in the series, Ross Taylor only got better from there and is one of best batsmen in the Blackcaps ODI side.

#2 Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson had made his ODI debut just months before the series

Kane Williamson may be at the helm of affairs for the New Zealand team at present, but he was just playing the third ODI series of his career last time around. The Tests that had preceded the 50-over matches had seen Williamson’s early promise as he hit a match-saving century on debut.

His performance in the ODI series, however, was hardly memorable as the stylish right-hander could manage a tally of 75 runs in 3 innings with a top score of 29. The past few years, though, have seen Kane Williamson progress rapidly in ODI cricket, too, and he currently averages 47 in the format.

#1 Virat Kohli

Kohli had already started his journey towards becoming an ODI great

Arguably the best limited-overs batsman in the world, Virat Kohli is carving a legacy of his own in the 50-over format of the game. When New Zealand toured India in the 2010/11 season, the Delhi cricketer had already shown the cricketing world enough signs of his impending greatness.

Kohli emerged as the 2^nd highest run-getter in the series behind stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir with 234 runs in 5 innings at an impressive average of nearly 60. His finest performance of the series came in the 1^st ODI as his innings of 105 set the tone for a 40-run Indian victory.

While everyone knew back then that Virat Kohli would go on to do great things in the future, no one would have imagined that his success would reach such heights.