Shami's Absence Felt: India's New-Ball Woes Despite Top Order Brilliance

• India's top four batsmen, especially Virat Kohli, are in superb form, consistently performing well in ODIs.
• Mohammed Shami's absence is keenly felt, particularly in new-ball bowling, as evidenced by the 117-run opening partnership by New Zealand.
• Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana's performance is under scrutiny, raising questions about their reliability compared to Shami.
• Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma provided a strong start, with Gill scoring a crucial half-century to ease pressure.
• Shreyas Iyer's aggressive batting at No. 4 further solidified India's strong batting lineup, ensuring a good run rate.

Why It Matters: India's batting is strong, but the bowling attack, especially with the new ball, lacks edge without Shami.