The third ODI between India and New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton was abandoned without a ball being bowled on Tuesday after persistent rain refused to relent, leaving India 2-0 ahead in the five-match series with two games still to play.
It had been raining in Hamilton since the weekend, and with a 90 per cent chance of rain forecast for the day, the outlook was bleak from the start. The Indian team arrived at the ground in the early afternoon local time and, apart from captain Shubman Gill and members of the coaching and support staff, remained seated in the team bus for around half an hour before returning to the hotel. The covers finally started to come off around 4 pm local time, an hour after the scheduled start, and both teams began to train as the toss was pushed back to 4.32 pm.
Gill won the toss for the third game in a row and chose to bowl, raising hopes of a truncated contest. The match had already been reduced to 40 overs a side, but the rain returned before Gill could even cross the 30-yard circle, and after another couple of hours of showers coming and going, the umpires called the game off around 6.45 pm local time, with roughly 70 minutes remaining before the 7.50 pm cut-off for a 20-over-a-side contest.
The washout means India can no longer lose the series. Even if New Zealand win both remaining matches, at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on November 13 and 15, they can only draw the series 2-2. India need one win from those two games to seal a rare ODI series triumph on New Zealand soil, a wait that has now stretched to seven years.
The result also ended New Zealand’s streak of 11 consecutive bilateral ODI series wins at home, the second-longest such run in men’s ODI history behind South Africa’s 17. Rain has now played a part in all three matches of this series: India won the Auckland opener by five wickets and the Wellington game by four runs, both via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, before Hamilton was lost entirely to the weather.
Gill and KL Rahul will now leave the ODI squad and head to Wellington for a short camp with the Test team ahead of the two-Test series starting at the Basin Reserve on November 19. Shreyas Iyer will captain India in the final two ODIs, with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and bowling coach Morne Morkel also travelling to Wellington with the Test group.
Match abandoned without a ball being bowled. India lead the five-match series 2-0.
Related:
India Eye Series Win in Hamilton as Siraj Waits in the Wings for Third ODI Against New Zealand
India Edge New Zealand by Four Runs on DLS After Rain Ends Wellington ODI
