India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI: Hamilton Rain, Hail and a Series on the Line, Explained

India can take the five-match ODI series in Hamilton this morning. They lead 2-0. The third ODI is at Seddon Park on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, with the toss at 7:00 AM IST and the start at 7:30 AM IST. Rain, and in one preview hail, may decide whether a result is even possible. The scorecard from Wellington is in our 2nd ODI explainer.

The 60-second version

• Stakes: India lead 2-0. Business Standard says they won the first ODI by five wickets and the second by four runs, both rain-affected. One more win seals the series.
• When and where: Seddon Park, Hamilton. Toss 7:00 AM IST, start 7:30 AM IST (3:00 PM local), per Business Standard.
• Weather: India Today says rain and hail could wash the game out. Cricbuzz says more rain is expected after India trained indoors on the eve. ESPNcricinfo expects significant interruptions and a seam-friendly pitch.
• If there is no result: India Today says the series stays 2-0, and India still need a win from the last two games. On the BCCI list in our squad explainer, Gill, Rahul and Kamboj leave the ODI group after this match.
• Streak: ESPNcricinfo and India Today say New Zealand have won 11 home ODI series in a row, since a defeat to India in 2019.
• Watch: Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV.

Why Hamilton can end the series

Business Standard's preview, published on Monday morning, says Shubman Gill's side will try to seal the series with two games to spare against Mitchell Santner's New Zealand. It puts the series at 2-0 after a five-wicket win and a four-run win.

India Today makes the same series point and adds the streak. New Zealand have won their last 11 ODI series at home. The last time that run was broken, the opponent was India, in 2019.

A result is not guaranteed. India Today says a washout would leave the score 2-0, with India still needing one win from the final two matches. It also says that gets more awkward for India because several players leave for Test duty. The BCCI split, set out in our squad piece from the 31 October list, is specific: Gill captains the first three ODIs, Shreyas Iyer captains the fourth and fifth, and KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj are in the Test group that starts in Wellington on 19 November. Iyer's vice-captain for the last two ODIs on that list is Ishan Kishan, who is also a wicketkeeper. That is a squad list, not a playing XI.

ESPNcricinfo's preview by Sidharth Monga, published Monday, says this Hamilton game is the last time Gill and Kyle Jamieson meet before Gill leaves the ODI side to Iyer.

The weather, and a pitch that barely got a day

Three previews agree that rain is the story. They do not all use the same words.

India Today says rain and hailstorms threaten to wash out the Hamilton ODI, and that cold, wet conditions would make the day hard even if play starts. It calls the weather New Zealand's insurance: another day, with India's ODI group about to thin out.

Cricbuzz says a sellout crowd may get an anticlimax. Persistent rain on the eve forced India to train indoors. More rain is expected on Tuesday, so a washout or another truncated match are both on the table. It says the previous two ODIs at this ground saw England bowled out for 175 and West Indies for 161 last year.

ESPNcricinfo says the ground staff had only half a day to prepare the pitch before the rain arrived. Under covers, Monga writes, the surface will sweat. The match-day forecast is not promising. He expects significant interruptions and a pitch that should seam.

None of those pieces publishes a single rain percentage. Where hourly forecasts online disagree with each other, this preview stays with what those three match reports actually say: the game may be shortened, and it may not happen.

Why the toss matters more than usual

Monga's point is not that the pitch suddenly gets easier. It is that, in this series, the side chasing has a method and the side batting first does not know what a good score is.

He uses Wellington as the example. India scored 78 of their 113 runs in boundaries. New Zealand scored 60 of their 134. Working the ball around was hard, so batters had to attack anything loose. Cricbuzz makes a similar point through New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi, who said that if either team had made 200 batting first the other night, that would have been a massive score. His message to his players was that going at two or three an over for a stretch can still be fine.

The toss ledger, as ESPNcricinfo reports it, is lopsided. In seven internationals on this tour, Santner has won only one. That one was a dead rubber in which India wanted to experiment by batting first. The preview says tails has been the outcome at all seven tosses, including a game in which India switched off their usual call of tails.

Cricbuzz says Santner will hope the coin falls his way, because New Zealand are in must-win territory and their top order has not yet disrupted India's new-ball bowlers.

Who is actually available

The probable XIs in Monday's previews are close. They are not a toss sheet, and one older preview is already out of date on a name.

India, probable, Cricbuzz and ESPNcricinfo: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh. The two previews order the middle order differently. The eleven names match. Cricbuzz says Mohammed Siraj has not played yet and may have to wait, and that Kuldeep Yadav may also wait because of the conditions and the balance that has won two games. Business Standard says India could rest Siraj with the Tests in mind. That is a preview judgment, not a BCCI announcement.

New Zealand: Cricbuzz expects Matt Fisher to start. He came in as Tickner's concussion substitute in Wellington. Kristian Clarke has been called up as cover. ESPNcricinfo lists Fisher or Clarke in the same slot and names the rest as Will Young, Tim Seifert, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy.

Blair Tickner is the conflict to ignore in older copy. Business Standard's probable XI, filed at 9:47 AM IST on Monday, still includes him. Cricbuzz's later preview says he will miss the next two games on a mandatory seven-day stand-down, even though he has been cleared of concussion, after a blow to the back of the head while batting. ESPNcricinfo describes the same injury as a concussion and says Clarke is the cover. India Today also has Tickner unavailable after a concussion, with Clarke called up.

Matt Henry is not in either probable XI. ESPNcricinfo says he has not been cleared of concussion after colliding with Devon Conway on the eve of the series, and has been told to target the fourth ODI. Cricbuzz says the same return window. India Today says Conway suffered a concussion in that collision, and that Rachin Ravindra's injury has thinned the batting. Ravindra was already out of these ODIs: ESPNcricinfo reported on 1 November that his shoulder was not ready, which our squad piece records.

Cricbuzz also flags Will Young. It says he has crossed double digits only once in his last 10 home ODI innings. Nick Kelly is the spare batter, but bringing him in would make the top order left-hand heavy, so Cricbuzz thinks Young may keep his place for one more game. ESPNcricinfo says there will be no mid-series batting changes, even with questions around Young, Seifert, Nicholls and Latham.

Business Standard says Rohit Sharma has scores of 0 and 23 in the first two ODIs and that the batting, outside Virat Kohli's Auckland innings, has been the worry. It also suggests Gautam Gambhir could look again at batting Axar Patel ahead of Rahul. India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, quoted by Cricbuzz, took the other emphasis: since he joined, he could not remember many matches in which Rahul batted and did not contribute.

Seddon Park's record, if a ball is bowled

Cricbuzz's "did you know" box is the home side's comfort.

• New Zealand are 6-1 against India in eight ODIs at Seddon Park. The 2022 game was washed out, which is why eight matches produced seven results.
• New Zealand have won each of their last 12 completed ODIs here. Their last ODI defeat at the ground was a rain-shortened 34-overs-a-side loss to South Africa in February 2017.
• Since the 2025 Champions Trophy, Cricbuzz says, Rohit has averaged 103.2 in the third match of a bilateral ODI series, with three fifties and two hundreds. That is a Cricbuzz statistic, not a guarantee that Tuesday's conditions will allow that kind of innings.

Across all ODIs, Business Standard's head-to-head count is 125 matches, India 65, New Zealand 52, one tie, seven no results.

ESPNcricinfo's form guide, last five completed ODIs, most recent first: New Zealand LLLWW, India WWLWW.

Where to watch

Business Standard and India Today agree.

• TV in India: Sony Sports Network.
• Streaming: SonyLIV, on the app and the website.

The series fixture list, including Mount Maunganui on 13 and 15 November at 7:30 AM IST, is in our ODI series guide.

What to watch next

1. 7:00 AM IST, the toss. Business Standard lists that time. ESPNcricinfo says Santner has won one toss in seven on this tour, and that the chase has been the clearer job in these conditions.
2. Whether a ball is bowled. India Today's hail-and-rain line, Cricbuzz's washout-or-shortened-game line, and ESPNcricinfo's interruption warning are the three forecasts that matter. There is no agreed rain percentage in those pieces.
3. The toss sheet, not the probable XI. Fisher against Clarke, and whether Young plays, are the New Zealand questions in the Cricbuzz preview. Siraj and Kuldeep are the India names that preview says can wait.
4. The series, if there is a result. A win makes it 3-0 with two to play. A washout, India Today says, leaves it 2-0.
5. The squad split. The fourth ODI is on Friday, 13 November, at Mount Maunganui, with Iyer captain on the BCCI list. The first Test is in Wellington on 19 November.

India are one win from the series. Hamilton has to allow a match before that win can exist.

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The 7:00 AM toss, the 7:30 AM start, the 2-0 score, the five-wicket and four-run wins, Rohit's 0 and 23, the Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV listings, the head-to-head of 125 matches (India 65, New Zealand 52, one tie, seven no results), and the note that Gill is not expected in the last two ODIs are from Business Standard, Aditya Kaushik, first published 9:47 AM IST on 9 November 2026. That piece's probable New Zealand XI still included Blair Tickner. The later injury account is Cricbuzz's 3rd ODI preview: Tickner cleared of concussion but out for two games on a seven-day stand-down, Fisher expected to start, Clarke as cover, Henry aimed at the fourth ODI, Young's one double-digit score in his last 10 home ODI innings, the probable India XI, Siraj and Kuldeep waiting, England 175 and West Indies 161 at this ground last year, the indoor training, the washout risk, the 6-1 Seddon Park record against India, the 12-match home streak, the February 2017 South Africa defeat, Rohit's 103.2 average in third ODIs of bilateral series since the 2025 Champions Trophy, and the Kotak and Ronchi quotes. ESPNcricinfo's preview by Sidharth Monga, published 9 November 2026, is the source for the 11-series home streak since 2019, the half-day pitch preparation, the sweating surface, the interruption forecast, the Wellington boundary splits (78 of 113, and 60 of 134), Santner's one toss win in seven, tails at all seven tosses, the form lines LLLWW and WWLWW, Henry not yet cleared after the Conway collision, and the Fisher-or-Clarke slot. India Today's 9 November preview is the source for hail as well as rain, for the washout leaving the series 2-0, and for a second listing of Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV. The Gill, Rahul and Kamboj handoff, Iyer's captaincy, Kishan's vice-captaincy, and the 19 November Wellington Test are the BCCI lists already set out in our squad explainer. Ravindra's absence is the 1 November ESPNcricinfo report cited there.