Conway Ruled Out of India ODI Series as New Zealand's Injury List Grows

New Zealand's injury problems have gone from bad to worse. Devon Conway will play no further part in the ODI series against India after being ruled out with a concussion, New Zealand Cricket confirmed on Friday. The opener collided with fast bowler Matt Henry while both went for the same catch during a fielding session at Eden Park on Tuesday, the day before the series opener, and he has not recovered enough to be cleared for the remaining four matches. The aim is to have him fit for the first Test, in Wellington on November 19.

Henry, at least, is back. The fast bowler has been cleared of concussion and is available for selection for the second ODI in Wellington on Saturday. That is the one piece of good news in a week that has otherwise stripped New Zealand's batting to the bone. Left-handed top-order batter Nick Kelly has been called into the squad as Conway's replacement. Kelly had originally been named only for the fourth and fifth ODIs, and his early promotion underlines how thin the hosts have become.

Conway is the third important player New Zealand have lost for this series. Rachin Ravindra was ruled out before a ball was bowled with a shoulder problem, and Mark Chapman was already unavailable. For a home side that needed its best batting to test an Indian attack that has looked sharp, the absences are starting to stack up into a genuine selection problem rather than a run of bad luck.

The scoreboard from Auckland tells the same story. India won the rain-affected opener by five wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, and New Zealand's batting fell apart long before the weather arrived. They were bowled out for 185 in 40.2 overs after Shubman Gill won the toss and asked them to bat, with Tim Seifert's 38 the top score. Blair Tickner's 34 from 23 balls, including four sixes, dragged them from 146 for 9 to 185 in a last-wicket stand with Jacob Duffy, but it was damage control rather than a total.

India's young pace pack did the damage. Arshdeep Singh took 4 for 70, Gurnoor Brar claimed 3 for 44, and Anshul Kamboj took 2 for 22 from his ten overs to be named Player of the Match. Rain then cut India's chase to a revised target of 143 in 32 overs, and Virat Kohli made 74 from 51 balls, his 80th ODI half-century, sharing 113 for the second wicket with Gill, who made 37, as India reached the target for the loss of five wickets in 22.4 overs.

The series now moves to Wellington for the second ODI on Saturday, and the weather may yet have as much say as the cricket. The match starts at 3pm local time, 7:30am IST, at Hnry Stadium, and more rain is forecast, with a 60 percent chance of precipitation in the first half of the day and 55 percent in the second, according to AccuWeather. Both teams had their Friday training plans disrupted, with New Zealand moving indoors to Wellington College and India calling their session off.

After Wellington the series moves to Hamilton for the third ODI on November 10, then to Mount Maunganui for the fourth and fifth ODIs on November 13 and 15. Gill leads India for the first three games before leaving to prepare for the Tests, with Shreyas Iyer taking charge for the final two.

For New Zealand, the task in Wellington is now twofold: find runs without three of their best batters, and stop a series from slipping away before it has really begun. Conway's absence leaves a hole at the top of the order that Kelly, for all his domestic form, cannot be expected to fill on reputation alone. India, 1-0 up and with their pace attack full of confidence, will know it.