Injuries and sickness to key players have turned out to be New Zealand’s nemesis-in-chief in the past few months. With the squad grappling to put 11 fit cricketers on the field, the Kiwis resorted to desperate measures in the last game when retired opening batsman Luke Ronchi had to step on the field as a substitute fielder.

And, now the home side has called-up leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and fast bowler, Blair Tickner, to the set-up for the final One-day International against India at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. New Zealand were forced to play Tim Southee and even though he made a substantial impact by dismissing the Indian captain with a beautiful in-ducker, he wouldn’t have played the game, had the Kiwis have fit-enough eleven players to take the field.

Apart from Tim Southee [gastro], the other players who are down with illness are all-rounder Scott Kuggeleijn, who is suffering from viral fever while off-spinner Mitchell Santner continues to recover from gastro-related issues. Regular captain Kane Williamson, who was ruled out of the first two One-day Internationals due to shoulder injury will undergo a fitness test on the sidelines of the third ODI before a call is made on his availability in what effectively is a dead-rubber.

Injury-ridden New Zealand aiming for a whitewash at the Bay Oval 

That said, injuries and sickness to a plethora of its cricketers haven’t come in way of the home side wrapping up the three-match series at Eden Park in Auckland, and they will now look to seal a memorable whitewash against Virat Kohli’s men in the third and final ODI of the series.

The Kiwis were absolutely imperious in the first two One-day Internationals in Hamilton and Auckland. While it was their batting-led by Ross Taylor’s hundred and a belligerent half-century by Tom Latham- that paved the way for their highest run-chase at Seddon Park, it was their lower-order and an all-round bowling effort in Auckland that ensured that the series was done-and-dusted despite Navdeep Saini and Ravindra Jadeja’s lion-hearted effort in the end.