An all-round show by the Indian batsmen backed up by a four-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav helped India record their second successive win as they thumped New Zealand by 90 runs in the second One-Day International at Bay Oval in Tauranga on Saturday January 26,2019
Scorecard
India 324/4 in 50 Overs
New Zealand 234/10 in 40.2 Overs
Match Result - Indiaw on by 90 Runs
MOM - Rohit Sharma(India) for his 87(97 Balls 4x9 and 6x3)
Series Result - India lead the 5-Match ODI Series 2-0
Electing to bat first, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma crafted an exquisite 154-run stand in a shade over 25 overs to provide India with a perfect foundation. Rohit had a stroke of luck the very first delivery of the game when he edged Trent Boult but there was no first slip to grab the chance.
There was no looking back for Rohit thereon as he carefully built his innings with singles and doubles while making sure the boundaries did not dry up at any stage. Dhawan too had his moments of luck getting away with a few close inside-edges but apart from that, he looked flawless. There were the usual cuts and flays as the duo brought up India's 50 in the ninth over.
Rohit Sharma (87 in 96 Balls with 4x9 and 6x3)was the first to reach his half-century - 38th in ODIs - getting there with a trademark pull over square leg off Lockie Ferguson, which also brought up the visitors' 100 in 18 overs. Shikhar Dhawan (66 in 67 Balls with 4x9)too did not take much time to get to the landmark reaching his 27th ODI fifty with a brace off Colin de Grandhomme as India upped the scoring rate.
With the surface flat and not much on offer for any of the bowlers, the hosts needed some sort of inspiration from somewhere. That was finally provided by their pace spearhead Boult in the 26th over when he induced a thick edge off Dhawan's blade for Tom Latham behind the stumps to pouch a simple catch. The left-hander fell for a 67-ball 66 his innings laced with nine fours.
Dhawan's wicket brought a renewed hope. New Zealand tried different things and slowly began to claw back into the game. Ferguson went around the wicket bringing all the cover fielders up while the new batsman Virat Kohli was not given easy singles at all even if it meant the odd boundary was scored. Rohit finally succumbed to the pressure mistiming a feeble pull straight into the hands of deep backward square leg for 87.
New Zealand continued with the short ball strategy and were successful again when Kohli got a brutish bouncer from Boult that he could only top-edge to Ish Sodhi at fine leg for 43.
With India on 238/3 after 40 overs a few big hits would have been the order of the day but the New Zealand bowlers did not give anything away. There were no boundaries hit between overs 42 and 46 which also accounted for the wicket of Ambati Rayudu, who just could not get things going eventually perishing for 47.
MS Dhoni (48* in 33 with 4x5 and 6x1) and Kedar Jadhav (22 in 10 with 4x3 and 6x1) then provided the much-needed impetus in the last few overs including a 21-run 50th over to get India past the 320-run mark. India scored just 138 off their last 18 overs.
For New Zealand, Boult was the pick of the bowlers with 2/61 in his ten overs and while Ferguson too picked up two wickets his 10 overs cost the hosts 81 runs.
New Zealand's innings started on a similar vein to India's with Martin Guptill surviving a straight forward run out chance the very first ball. He was dropped by Dhoni a while later, but the opener could not make the most of it as he fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar soon after. Guptill (15) tried to ramp the pacer over third man but the wind ensured the ball stayed inside the field of play and Yuzvendra Chahal completed a good catch on the boundary line.
Kane Williamson, coming in at No.3 started off in fifth gear smoking Mohammed Shami for two sixes and a four in the game's eighth over but the pacer had the last laugh as he castled the New Zealand captain's stumps in the same over to peg the hosts back.
There was a brief 33-run stand between Colin Munro and Ross Taylor before the latter was pinned in front of the stumps by Chahal as he missed a reverse flick for 31. Taylor was then undone by a piece of brilliance from behind the stumps by Dhoni who inflicted a quick stumping to send the batsman packing for 22 while Latham, after producing a few gorgeous strokes, was yorked with a quicker one by Kuldeep for 34.
The end was nigh once Latham fell as New Zealand slipped to 136/5 and soon 146/6 with the wicket of de Grandhomme.
Doug Bracewell delayed the inevitable as he unleashed a flurry of strokes enroute his maiden ODI half-century but with none of the other batsmen showing any resistance his 46-ball 57 remained a lost cause
No comments:
Post a Comment