NZ win toss, to bat against India in final ODI

Chennai: New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat in the fifth and final ODI against India here today.

Both New Zealand and India have made one change apiece in their playing eleven from the last match in Bangalore. While New Zealand replaced Grant Elliot with Andy McKay, right-arm pacer Munaf Patel comes in for India in place of Zaheer Khan. India lead the series 4-0.

New Zealand’s attempt to prevent a second successive clean sweep began on the right note, as Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted to bat on a dry track under overcast skies at Chepauk.

Though Chennai has been spared wet weather over the last couple of days, rain is forecast for later in the evening. The decision to bat, Vettori said, was prompted by the intention of making most of favourable conditions before any intervention by the weather.

Teams:
India: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh,
Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, R Ashwin,
Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (capt), Martin Guptill,
Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Nathan
McCullum, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Grant Elliot, James
Franklkin.