After being whitewashed 0-5 in the T20I series, the New Zealand Cricket Team showed great resolve to win the ODI series beating India by 22 runs in the 2nd match played at Eden Park, Auckland on Saturday.
Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. It was a solid start for the Kiwis openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls who looked positive with their intent against Indian pacers. At the end of 10 overs, New Zealand openers scored 52 for 0.
After the power play overs, Guptill and Nicholls made the batting look with positive stroke play. Chahal got the breakthrough for India dismissing Nicholls with a review. Nicholls called the review for LBW and the decision was upheld. The New Zealand openers added 93 runs.
Tom Blundell playing his 2nd ODI match looked was struggling against Navdeep Saini but played some lovely strokes. Guptill finally broke his poor form reaching his fifty off 49 balls. Shardul Thakur provided the breakthrough for India getting the wicket of Blundell for 22. Guptill and Blundell added 49 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Martin Guptill looked impressive with his stroke play and was brilliantly run out by Shardul Thakur. The Indian bowlers made a strong comeback as they took wickets of Tom Latham, James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mark Chapman and Tim Southee to leave hosts in big trouble at 197 for 8.
The experienced Ross Taylor and debutant Kyle Jamieson steadied the innings for Kiwis with good stroke play. Taylor reached his 2nd successive fifty off 61 balls while Jamieson hit some lovely blows against Bumrah and Shardul Thakur in the death overs. Both batsmen added unbeaten 76 runs for the 9th wicket which helped New Zealand recover to 273 for 8.
In reply to 274 runs to win, Prithvi Shaw began off to flying start with attacking boundaries from Tim Southee and Hamish Bennett. Bennett got the breakthrough for Kiwis dismissing Mayank Agarwal for 3. Kyle Jamieson got his maiden ODI wicket by getting Shaw with a good delivery. Tim Southee produced a gem to get rid of Indian captain Kohli to leave India in big trouble. Shreyas continued his good form with lovely strokes. At the end of 10 overs, India were 59 for 3.
After the power play overs, India lost the big wicket of KL Rahul cheaply. Kedar Jadhav looked out of sorts as he scored just 9 off 27. Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja steadied the Indian innings taking singles and hitting occasional boundaries. Iyer reached his fifty off 56 balls with a boundary and was dismissed by Hamish playing a poor stroke. Shardul Thakur contributed 18 off 15 balls before bowled by Colin de Grandhomme.
Navdeep Saini played some lovely strokes which put the pressure on the Kiwis bowlers along with Jadeja keeping India’s hopes alive. After hitting a six off Jamieson bowling, he played a poor stroke and got out for well made 45. Jadeja did not keep the strike and gave it to Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahal contributed 10 runs before attempting a second run. Jadeja reached his fifty off 67 balls. With 23 runs required off last 2 overs, Jadeja tried his best and was the last batsman to be dismissed. New Zealand bowled out India for 251.
New Zealand 273 for 8 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 79, Ross Taylor 73*, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/58, Shardul Thakur 2/60) beat India 251 in 48.3 overs (Ravindra Jadeja 55, Shreyas Iyer 52, Saini 45, Tim Southee 2/41, Jamieson 2/42) by 22 runs.
Kyle Jamieson for his all-round contribution with both bat and ball was awarded the man of the match. The third and final ODI will be played on 11th February at Mount Maunganui.
