Hamilton washout leaves India 2-0 up with two ODIs left to play

The third one-day international between India and New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton was called off because of heavy rain on Tuesday 10 November, with no ball bowled. India had won the toss and chosen to field, but the toss itself had been delayed by more than two hours by a wet outfield and passing showers, according to an AP report carried by Yahoo Sports.

The result is a no result rather than a win for anyone, so India keep their 2-0 lead in the five-match series. The match was scheduled to start at 7:30 am IST, and as the rain kept returning the umpires ran out of time to schedule even a heavily shortened game.

What is the series score after the Hamilton washout?

India lead 2-0. They won the opener in Auckland by five wickets and then the second ODI in Wellington by four runs under the DLS method, a result covered by Al Jazeera and the ICC. Hamilton therefore changes nothing on the table, but it removes one of the three games New Zealand had left to claw the deficit back.

With two matches remaining, the arithmetic is simple. A win in either of them seals the series for India, and the worst case for the tourists is a 2-2 draw, as The Statesman put it in its report on the abandonment.

When are the fourth and fifth ODIs?

Both remaining matches are at Bay Oval, Tauranga. The fourth ODI is on Friday 13 November and the fifth on Sunday 15 November, each at 3:00 pm New Zealand time, which is 7:30 am IST, according to the match page on Yahoo Sports. Indian Standard Time is the easiest reference for readers in India, since the games start at the same time as the Hamilton fixture was meant to.

Will India change their captain for the last two games?

That is the question to watch. The Statesman reports that captain Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul are set to leave the squad to prepare for the upcoming Test series, with vice-captain Shreyas Iyer expected to lead the side in the final two ODIs. The Times of India had already run a piece headlined on why Gill is captaining India for the last time in this ODI series. Neither the BCCI nor the team has been quoted on the detail in the reports we reviewed, so treat the exact line-up as unconfirmed until the toss in Tauranga.

India made no changes for Hamilton, according to AajTak. The side named Rohit Sharma, Gill, Virat Kohli, Iyer, Axar Patel, Rahul, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Akib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar and Arshdeep Singh, while New Zealand made one change and chose Mitchell Santner as captain. It is a fair guess that most of that group will be asked to close the series out, but selection is announced at the toss.

Why has rain been such a factor on this tour?

The second ODI in Wellington was decided by the DLS method after rain stopped play with India on 113-7, four runs ahead of the par score, as the Pulse preview of the Hamilton game noted. Now Hamilton has produced nothing at all. Short games and no-results reward the side already ahead, which is why a washout suits India more than the hosts.

For New Zealand, the margin for error is gone. They must win both games at Bay Oval to square the series 2-2, and a further weather interruption would again favour the tourists.

We will update this story once the teams are named for the fourth ODI.