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McLean Park best for batting
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No Williamson for Kiwis
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Phillips a bet at 7/2
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New Zealand v India
Tuesday 22 October, 06:30
TV: Live on BT Sports
Team news
Kane Williamson will not play in the third and final match because of a medical appointment. It should mean that his last appearance in this format was game two.
Williamson produced a characteristically dreadful performance with the bat to pile the pressure on his team-mates. It came in the week he was released by Sunrisers Hyderabad. He should take the hint and retire.
In his place, Tim Southee will lead the group and Mark Chapman could come into the middle-order. Glenn Phillips is expected to move up to No 3.
Possible XI: Allen, Conway, Phillips, Mitchell, Chapman, Neesham, Santner, Southee, Milne, Sodhi, Ferguson
India are 1-0 up thanks to another masterclass from Suryakumar Yadav. His sensational hitting is the future and maybe Indian will catch on that No 3 is the best position for him.
Yadav's 11 came off just 51 balls and rescued India from a pathetically slow start by Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant in the opening slots.
At the moment KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are not being put udner pressure at all for their spots. Maybe Deepak Hooda might be tried up top to add momentum.
Possible XI: Ishan, Pant, Yadav, Shreyas, Hardik, Hooda, Sundar, Kumar, Arshdeep, Siraj, Chahal
Pitch report
McLean Park has been good for runs in the last two years. Six times the side batting first has busted 170 or more in nine matches which have been unaffected by the weather. So immediately we're drawn to the 10/11 from Sportsbook that both teams score 160 and 3/1 that both bust 170.
The latter has happened twice in the sequence mentioned. Going over the par line in the late 160s may be a safer option. The weather forecast is a bit of a worry but we might be okay for the full 20.
How to play
New Zealand are 1.9210/11 with India 2.0621/20. It's a surprise the odds have not flipped after India enjoyed an easy win in game two. Likewise with Williamson being ruled out.
If Williamson was playing here we'd be all over India. His batting has become that bad. Instead we're likely to look for big prices at the break on India to chase with runs expected up front.
We could get around 2.305/4 or 2.407/5 if the record for easy batting holds up.
Tops value
Yadav has been boosted to 11/4 by Sportsbook for back-to-back top-bat wins. He is 7/2 for top match bat and 5/1 for man of the match.
We're interested in Phillips for top Kiwi at 7/2 with Sportsbook. But only just. He's getting clsoe to the wire on win rate but we recognise the cut is fair because he should bat at No 3.