Gill, who was named Player of the Tournament in India's successful ICC U-19 World Cup campaign in New Zealand previous year, has a List A batting average of 47.78 after 36 innings with four centuries and seven half-centuries.
Having already secured the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand with a thumping seven-wicket win at Bay Oval, India will look to continue their dominance when they take on the hosts in the fourth ODI, a dead rubber, at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Thursday.
What are the squads for the 4th ODI between India and New Zealand? Shubman Gill makes his debut, while Khaleel Ahmed is in for Mohammed Shami. So it is worth giving Tim Southee a look in the playing XI. Till now they have played 28 One Day Internationals here and have won 19 out of them. Gill averages over 60 in List A games during the Indian domestic season in 2018-19. "Shubman is a very exciting talent and I saw him bat in the nets and I was like wow I was not even 10 per cent of that when I was 19", Kohli said at the end of the 3rd match. MS Dhoni would be back while Virat Kohli would fly back to India and take some welcome rest for the reminder of the ODI series and the following T20I series. In case Dhoni is available and the team management avoids tinkering with the combination, he will walk in as Virat Kohli's replacement.
Mohammad Shami might finally be rested for the first time since England tour. Dinesh Karthik might have to sit out and make way for MS Dhoni.
For New Zealand, everything seems to have gone haywire since the start of the series and skipper Kane Williamson has agreed that they have been completely outplayed by India. Tom Latham and Ross Taylor have performed occasionally but none has been impactful consistently enough to change the complexion of the game. Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson are the pace bowlers. He was considered a USP but has been his biggest weakness in the series.
The experience and performance of the bowling unit are two things in the team's set-up that have made a huge difference, suggests the fielding coach. The highest run chased by a team is 350/9 (NZ) against Australia.
New Zealand top-order, comprising Martin Guptill, Colin Munro and Kane Williamson, has failed to impress much with the willow in the series so far.
