Daijiworld Media Network

Wellington, Jan 31 : Welcome to fifth and final ODI of the series between India and New Zealand. The mighty mauled. Pride tattered. The series out of grasp. The Number 1 ranking snatched away. With all the question marks swelling to a crescendo, MS Dhoni will expect his men, particularly the bowlers, to come out with all guns blazing to snap India's 7-match winless streak in ODIs. Meanwhile, it has been quite rosy for New Zealand, barring the tied encounter.

Baz, who sealed the series with a six in Hamilton has already warned India that the hosts will not be resting on their heels and will look to carry on the momentum to finish the series 4-0. Uncapped pacer, Matt Henry has been called up as a cover for Southee and Anderson, both of whom are carrying niggles. For India, It will be interesting to view if Ishwar Pandey and Amit Mishra get a look in today. With Dhoni confirming the fact that Kohli opening the batting was just a minor aberration, Dhawan is expected to return to the team and occupy the top order alongside Rohit.

With Dhawan coming back, Stuart Binny has been relegated to the sidelines. Matt Henry, who has has trumpeted by the New Zealand selectors in the same breath as Bennett and Milne has been handed his debut. So New Zealand unleash another quick on the Indian batsmen, who have been found wanting against the short ball.

This may be an inconsequential rubber but with New Zealand in red hot form and India desperate to eke out a victory in addition to gaining some valuable preparation ahead of the World Cup, an engaging duel awaits us. Good day and welcome to the fifth and final ODI at Wellington.

India have won the toss and have opted to field

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum(c), James Neesham, Luke Ronchi(w), Nathan McCullum, Matt Henry, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan

India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami

Match Preview :

The series is gone. India now only have pride to play for against New Zealand in the fifth and final ODI at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Friday. MS Dhoni's plans of getting acclimatised to these conditions ahead of the World Cup have crashed as his bowlers continued to disappoint. Barring some spectacular innings, India have had nothing to take away from the ODIs so far. New Zealand on the other hand have sent out a strong signal to the world - they won't be easy meat in next year's event.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum's leadership, New Zealand's batting and some intelligent bowling against a powerful batting line-up have been the biggest positives for the hosts. They dominated West Indies earlier this year but their real test was always going to be against India.

New Zealand had travelled to India months before the 2011 World Cup and Gautam Gambhir had led a routing of the Black Caps. India were ready for the mega event at home. Likewise, this could be New Zealand's moment ahead of 2015. The likes of Kane Williamson, Corey Anderson and Tim Southee will be key while senior batsmen Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum have just emphasised their class through the series.

With the Test series starting next week, New Zealand will leave nothing to chance and they would be desperate to finish the ODIs on a high before the first of two Tests starts on February 6.

Key Players: Williamson has scored four half-centuries from four games in the series, Taylor has two fifties and a century, Guptill has been strong at the top, Anderson has been dangerous with both bat and ball, Southee has taken key wickets at crucial times as has McClenaghan. Pretty much all the New Zealand players have been in top form, which explains their sheer consistency through the series.

India: This has been a wasted opportunity for the visitors. MS Dhoni is the kind of captain who believes in planning long term and he would have banked on the ODIs against New Zealand to get some valuable practice ahead of the World Cup. But he has been left disappointed by his bowlers, whose lack of discipline led to the debacle. It won't be fair to blame just the bowlers though, as the batting has not been top notch either.

Maybe Dhoni will take something back from the series, maybe the bowlers have learnt some valuable lessons on the length to bowled in New Zealand or maybe not. A livid Indian captain urged his bowlers to use their brains in a rare public outburst. Can they do it on Friday before the Test series get underway? Or will it be another familiar tale? It has been a frustrating series with the bowlers repeating their mistakes and the batsmen getting out at key moments.

It is likely India will make some changes for the final game. Shikhar Dhawan will be back after missing the fourth ODI as Virat Kohli slips back to his usual number three to give the middle order more solidity. Suresh Raina is likely to sit out again as India persist with Ambati Rayudu for the second game on the trot.
Key Players: Dhoni has been India's best player in the series with scores of 40, 56, 50 and 79 not out and is now just one short of 8000 ODI runs. The captain has led from the front but his men have refused to follow his example. Virat Kohli was outstanding in the first two matches but failed to get going for the next two. However, he is too good a player to miss out for long.

The biggest positive for India has been Ravindra Jadeja's all-round show - two successive, unbeaten fifties and economical spells seem to have solved India's problems of a genuine all-rounder.
Quotes:

The spinners bowled quite well and then the fast bowlers came back on and they again gave away runs freely, which meant that we weren't able to hang on to the pressure created by the spinners. It was a disappointing bowling performance from the fast bowlers. - MS Dhoni, India captain

To beat a very, very good Indian team, especially in these conditions which I thought were more favourable to them, it was an emphatic win. We closed out the series which we have been talking about all through the summer, so we are really pleased with the effort. - Brendon McCullum, New Zealand captain