India vs New Zealand Prediction: Kiwis are too big of a price in 2nd ODI

We are in the midst of a three-game ODI series in India and Jamie Pacheco previews the 2nd match from Rajkot on Wednesday, January 14, start time 08:00 and live on TNT Sports.  

Jamie produced a small profit last time out, and this time is going with a small bet on an upset in favour of New Zealand, and an ace Indian veteran to roll back the years.  Let's check out his India vs New Zealand Predictions for the second ODI...

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Team News:

India  

India made a chase of 301 look a little harder than it should have been after a good start but the cool head of KL Rahul and some decent blows from the bat of Harshit Rana got them home in the end after another Virat Kohli masterclass (93), aided by contributions from Shreyas Iyer (49) and Shubman Gil (56), put them on the right track.  

Earlier, Mohammad Siraj, Rana and Prasidh Krishna all took two wickets in restricting New Zealand to exactly 300.  

Kohli really is something else. His last five ODIs have produced innings of: 74, 135, 102, 65, and now 93. For good measure, when he played a couple of domestic matches, he got 131 and 77.  

But they have an issue with Washington Sundar, who could only hobble when batting after sustaining an injury in the first innings and has been ruled out of the Series.   

His replacement is the uncapped Ayush Badoni, a middle-order batter who bowls a bit but it's not really a like-for-like replacement. The alternative is to pick Nitish Kumar Reddy, who, as an all-rounder, is more similar to what Sundar brings to the table.  

New Zealand  

It was a story of 'what ifs' for New Zealand. What if Daryl Mitchell had been around for the last two overs of the first innings and added another 20 runs? What if Michael Bracewell hadn't been brilliantly run out when he was starting to get going? What if Mitchell had had Rana caught in the deep in the final few overs of India's chase rather than spilling it? 

Still, it was a very solid effort that on another day, could have resulted in a narrow win rather than a defeat. It was particularly impressive when you consider that they were missing 5-6 players who would normally get into the side. 

Their efforts with the bat were led by Mitchell, whose 84 meant our bet on him to get 29 runs or more meant we won with plenty to spare, to secure a modest profit on the day after Ravindra Jadeja didn't deliver with the ball.    

The Kiwis' efforts were no less than we expected. The fielding was mostly excellent, the plans in the field were solid and everyone gave 100%, as they always do.  

Kyle Jamieson was excellent with the ball with 4-41 but Adithya Ashok less so, with 55 runs conceded off just six overs, so might be vulnerable to losing his place. Fellow spinner Jayden Lennox could come in for him. 

Pitch and conditions 

Four ODIs have been played here at Rajkot since the first one in 2013. Surprisingly, India has lost three of the four they've played here, only beating Australia in 2010 but losing to England, South Africa, and…Australia (in 2023).  

It's a high-scoring ground that averages more than six an over so 300 may not do it as a first innings total, with 320 probably needed.  The forecast is fine so no worries there. 

Match Winner odds. 

India are 1/7 having been 1/5 last time out. 1/5 is 83% implied probability, while New Zealand are 9/2.  

The Kiwis are worth an interest. As we said already, it was a far tighter game than the odds ahead of it on Sunday and had they had the rub of the green on a couple of occasions, it could have been a different story.  

We also note India's record of just one win in four on this ground and that the absence of Sundar deprives them of good balance, so a small bet on NZ could prove to be a smart play.  

*For all the latest and live India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI Odds then head over to betfred.com 

India Top Batsman  

For all the talk of India's embarrassment of riches with the bat and endless options, Kohli and Sharma are still their main men in this format in their late 30s, though admittedly Sharma didn't kick on in the first match.  

And both have excellent records at this ground: Kohli has three fifties from four knocks here, Sharma has two fifties from three.  

Kohli is in slightly better form, but we'll take the view that Sharma may be due and at a bigger price - 10/3 on Sharma plays 12/5 on Kohli - we'll go with Sharma.  

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Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Cricket Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Cricket hub page...