India to take on New Zealand in first ODI today in Dharamshala

Dharamshala: The first of the five matches in the India-New Zealand ODI series will be held in Dharamsala on Sunday.

Brimming with confidence after a clean-sweep in the Test series, Team India would obviously look forward to carry on their dominance over New Zealand in the shorter format too.

The pressure will be high on Dhoni as India need to beat New Zealand by a 4-1 margin to claim the third spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

The Kiwis are currently ranked third with 113 points while India is at fourth with 110.

The pressure on Dhoni will be more because the Indian team will be without three of its key players -- Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami -- all of whom have been rested keeping the gruelling season ahead in mind.

Both teams have played 93 matches against each other so far with India recording 46 wins and New Zealand notching up 41 victories.

Though India has more wins, New Zealand won four of the last five ODIs against India. One match was tied.