Who Is Adithya Ashok, IND vs NZ 1st ODI: New Zealand were put into bat first after the Indian captain Shubman Gill won the toss in the first ODI, which is being played in Vadodara on Sunday, January 11. Both teams will face off in a three-match ODI series, which marks the return of the Indian captain Shubman Gill after an injury break.
During the toss, New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell confirmed that the Indian-origin Adithya Ashok is featuring in the lineup as the frontline spinner. With notable names like Kane Williamson and Tom Latham missing, the Blackcaps have a few fresh faces in their setup. Notably, New Zealand have not named a full-strength squad for the ODI series with a lot of big names either busy with the franchise leagues or preparing for the T20 World Cup, which is less than a month away.
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Ashok, along with the other new names, will be eager to perform in the country of his birth to quickly rise up in the ladder of Kiwi spinners. The youngster might also get to play all three games to prove his worth.
Who Is Adithya Ashok?
New Zealand's 23-year-old cricketer Adithya Ashok was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu and was brought up there till the age of four before his parents moved to New Zealand for better career prospects.
After that, Ashok was raised in Auckland and went on to represent the domestic side in the region. He then played for New Zealand in the U19 World Cup in 2020 and made his professional debut in a T20 for Auckland in December 2021 at the age of just 19. Ashok ended up playing all three formats for Auckland and was honoured with the Young Cricketer of the Year award for his performances in the 2022-23 domestic season.
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In August 2023, Adithya Ashok got his maiden international call-up on New Zealand’s tour to the United Arab Emirates, where he made his debut during a T20I match. He then made his ODI debut against Bangladesh at home.
Ashok has already played 2 ODIs and 1 T20I for the Black Caps, taking two wickets across the two formats. While the ongoing ODI series marks his first tour to India as an international cricketer, Adithya keeps visiting the country frequently. He also came to India as part of the group that got to train at the CSK Academy in Chennai.
India vs New Zealand 1st ODI Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok