Kiwis hope to avoid a clean sweep in ODIs

Kiwis hope to avoid a clean sweep in ODIsAuckland (New Zealand), Mar. 13 : The New Zealand cricket team will focus on avoiding a clean sweep against their Indian counterparts on Saturday, when they meet up for the fifth and final one-day international here.

New Zealand''s euphoria after their two Twenty20 victories against India has been punctured. The visitors have blasted the Kiwis into submission in the four ODIs played so far.

New Zealand''s bowlers have struggled to find the right lengths to contain India''s intimidating top order, let alone pick wickets. The quality of the pitches and sizes of the grounds have also played into India''s hands and that has deprived the series of any kind of competition.

India will have a few selection headaches, but not much to worry about. They may want to shuffle the batting order a bit to give an opportunity to batsmen who haven''t had much to do so far.

For New Zealand, their sole focus will be to win and for that to happen, the middle order will have to live up to its potential. New Zealand will need to summon their pride collectively to give India a message i. e. that the upcoming Test series is not going to be a walkover like the one-day internationals. (ANI)