Kiwis elect to bat against India

- Scorecard

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat against India in the second one-day international of the tri-series in Colombo, on Friday.

It is a do-or-die encounter for the Kiwis, who opted for two changes. Pacer Kyle Mills comes in for Daryl Tuffey, while Neil Broom replaces Nathan McCullum.

For India, Rahul Dravid makes a comeback into the ODI squad after a gap of nearly two years, having last played an ODI, in October 2007.

Sachin Tendulkar, back after missing the West Indies ODI series, will open the innings with replacement opener Dinesh Karthik.

Regular opener Gautam Gambhir was ruled out of the tournament because of a groin injury and his place in the squad was taken by fellow-Delhi batsman Virat Kohli.

Harbhajan Singh is the lone spinner in the team along with three pacers, RP Singh, Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma.

New Zealand, who lost to Sri Lanka by 97 runs in the opening match of the tournament, need to win this one in order to keep alive their chances of making it to the final.

On the other hand, India will look to win all the matches including the final to take the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Jacob Oram, Kyle Mills, Ian Butler, Shane Bond, Grant Elliott.