His penchant for hitting double hundreds is universally acknowledged and skipper Rohit Sharma will be eager to make his 200th appearance for India a memorable one with a solid performance against a below-par New Zealand in the fourth ODI in Hamilton on Thursday.
With the series already sealed, Rohit, who has a good record as stand-in captain and has three double hundreds in ODIs to his credit, would aim to tighten the noose around New Zealand in what could be another batting friendly track at Seddon Park.
A 4-0 lead will be India’s biggest series win (across formats) in their 52 years of touring New Zealand having first visited the country back in 1967.
For India, the two remaining matches give the side an ideal platform to once again test the bench strength and give the younger men a feel of match situations.
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India’s fielding coach R Sridhar i s expecting some of the reserve players to get much-needed game time during the next few ODIs as the team management wants every player to be match-ready going into this year’s ICC 50-over World Cup.
The fielding coach is happy that the core team is ready as “all pieces are falling in place”, with the bowling unit taking itself “10 notches higher”.
“Winning is a habit that you want to continue and don’t want a let down on intensity but we need to give game time to our reserves with just seven games remaining before the World Cup,” Sridhar said ahead of India’s fourth ODI against New Zealand here on Thursday.
