Hamilton ODI Abandoned Without a Ball as India Keep 2-0 Lead

Rain ended the third one-day international between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday without a ball bowled. India keep a 2-0 lead in the five-match series with two games left, which means New Zealand can now at best draw the series. The series moves to Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, where Shreyas Iyer will captain India in the last two matches.

The toss was the only cricket of the day. Rain pushed the scheduled 2:30 p.m. local toss back by about two hours. When it finally happened, India captain Shubman Gill won the toss for the third straight match and chose to bowl. Officials cut the game to 40 overs a side in the hope of a start. The rain returned while the teams waited, the covers stayed on, and the umpires called the match off shortly after 11 a.m. Indian time, well before the last cutoff for even a 20-over game.

A day of waiting in Hamilton

Ground staff worked through the morning as showers crossed the Waikato. The covers came off briefly, then went back on. India named an unchanged side from the team that won in Wellington. New Zealand made one change, bringing in fast bowler Matt Fisher for Blair Tickner. Neither side got to use them.

It is the third straight match in this series shaped by rain. India won the first ODI in Auckland and the second in Wellington by four runs, both under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. Tuesday offered no cricket at all. A bilateral series has no reserve day, so the match is simply gone, recorded as abandoned with no result.

Why it matters

The arithmetic now runs against New Zealand. They trail 2-0 with two matches to play, so even two wins at Bay Oval only level the series at 2-2. India leave Hamilton knowing they cannot lose the series.

The washout also ends a long home run. New Zealand had built their ODI strength on winning bilateral series at home, and that run of series wins is over because a drawn series is now their ceiling.

For India, the bigger change is who leads the side from here. Gill and KL Rahul now leave the one-day squad to prepare for the two-Test series that follows the ODIs. Iyer, the vice-captain for the first three matches, takes over as captain for the last two games, with Ishan Kishan as his deputy.

The context

Gill had one more reason to want a game. Hamilton was his last ODI of the tour, and he leaves without facing a ball in it. He won three tosses in the series and chose to bowl each time, backing a pace attack led in this series by Gurnoor Brar, the leading wicket-taker so far with seven wickets. Brar, like everyone else, waits until Friday.

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner needed a win in Hamilton to keep the series alive on his home ground. Instead his side must win twice at Bay Oval just to share the series, against an India side that has handled the wet conditions better all tour.

What happens next

The fourth ODI is at Bay Oval on Friday, November 13, and the fifth at the same ground on Sunday, November 15. Iyer captains both. After the one-day series, the two-Test series starts on November 19 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington and moves to Hagley Oval in Christchurch on November 27. Gill and Rahul join the Test group to prepare for it.

Key numbers

Series score: New Zealand 0, India 2, with two matches left. Balls bowled in Hamilton: zero. Tosses won by Gill in the series: three from three. Wickets for Brar, the series leader: seven. Days until the next match: three.