Williamson: Guptill and Munro will open

They are two good ball strikers, exciting top order players and it will be nice to see them get underway tomorrow,” said Williamson ahead of the 1st ODI against India on Sunday.

Published : Oct 21, 2017 17:25 IST , Mumbai

 New Zealand player Martin Guptill and captain Kane Williamson during a practice session ahead of the India-New Zealand ODI at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
New Zealand player Martin Guptill and captain Kane Williamson during a practice session ahead of the India-New Zealand ODI at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
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New Zealand player Martin Guptill and captain Kane Williamson during a practice session ahead of the India-New Zealand ODI at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

The New Zealand captain Kane Williamson confirmed that a new opening pair, the left-right combination in Colin Munro and Martin Guptill, will open the innings for the first time in a one-day international against India on Sunday.

The first of the three match series will be New Zealand’s first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium; New Zealand has played 32 ODIs in India - won seven, lost 24. There was a no result at Chepauk on October 2003.

“The opening batters for tomorrow are (Martin) Guptill and (Colin) Munro. They are two good ball strikers, exciting top order players and it will be nice to see them get underway tomorrow,” said Williamson.

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Excerpts:

On the warm up games and preparation

Yes, they were a couple of good head outs for us after a bit of a break from international cricket. So it was nice to get back together and start acclamatising as best we can, in terms of humidity. But they count for a small amount, they are (for) preparation, (which is) important; we will put our foot forward coming into the first game and play our best cricket.

About the team’s middle order with Tom Latham scoring runs and keeping wicket

We have got a relatively new middle order. Some guys were here on the A tour and experienced these conditions for a while, coming into the series, which is always good. There are a number of areas you look at coming into the series, but that’s not sort of a specific one. Tom (Latham) will bat in the middle order, he had some good time in the middle in the last couple of warm-up games and he will obviously keep (wicket).

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On the surface

It looks like a fairly good surface. Generally, wickets at the Wankhede are good and we will expect something similar.

India’s impressive ODI record at home

(They are) a very hard team to beat. We know that at home in particular, they are the strongest team in the world. There are no illusions that we need to come out and play our best cricket.

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