All-round performances by the Indian batsmen and a four-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav guided India to a comfortable 90 runs win against New Zealand in the second ODI at Bay Oval in Tauranga on Saturday (January 26).
India won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave the team a flying start. They managed to put up 56 runs within first 10 overs. Their 154-run through a steady association for the first wicket within over 25 overs provided India a solid foundation.
Rohit has survived a dismissal on the very first delivery of the match when he edged Trent Boult’s delivery but due to the absence of the first slip, it went to the boundary. After that, Rohit started playing cautiously and scored his 38th ODI half-century by hitting Lockie Ferguson over square leg for a six in the 18th over and India too reached 100-mark.
Along with him, Dhawan too played with patience, scored his 27th ODI fifty in the 21st over. New Zealand's pace spearhead Trent Boult handed over the first breakthrough by taking Dhawan in the 26th over. The left-handed opener fell for a 67-ball 66 after giving an easy catch to Latham.
Dhawan's wicket brought captain Kohli at the crease. New Zealand tried various ways to stop the run-flows and somehow they got succeeded. Rohit finally got dismissed for 87 by hitting straight into the hands of deep backward square leg in Ferguson’s delivery. Then, Kohli and Rayadu started to steady the ship. Both tried to accelerate the runs but Kohli fell for 43 off Boult while Ish Sodhi took a well-judged catch. Rayadu too got out after scoring 47 off 49.
MS Dhoni played a quickfire inning of 48* off 33 with 5 fours and a six and Kedar Jadhav’s unbeaten 22 off 10 helped India to get past the 320-run mark. India ended up scoring 324 in 50 overs. For New Zealand, Boult and Ferguson picked up two wickets each.
New Zealand's innings too started on a similar note as the opener Martin Guptill survived a run out on the very first ball. A little later, Dhoni dropped his catch, but Guptill could not utilize the chance as Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up his wicket for 23. Guptill (15) tried to hit the ball over the third man but ended up giving the catch to Yuzvendra Chahal; who took a brilliant catch on the boundary line.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson started the innings on a wonderful note as he hit Mohammed Shami for two sixes and a four in the eighth over but got bowled by an inside edge from the next delivery from Shami. Ross Taylor joined Munro and both added 33-run before Munro got trapped in front of the stumps by Chahal for 31.
Soon Taylor too got dismissed after scoring 22 off 25. Dhoni’s quick glove-work behind the stumps sent him in the dugout while Kuldeep Yadav trapped Latham, in front of the stumps for 34. No batsman was able to build a partnership apart from Doug Bracewell as Colin de Grandhomme went after scoring only 3.
In the 31st over, Kuldeep Yadav picked up Henry Nicholls for 28 and Ish Sodhi went for a duck from the very next delivery of Yadav. New Zealand reduced to 166/8 before Doug Bracewell and Lockie Ferguson tried to build a partnership. Bracewell smashed his maiden ODI half-century but due to lack of support from the other end, his 46-ball 57 went in vain and New Zealand was bowled out for 234. For India, Kuldeep Yadav bagged 4 wickets, Chahal and Bhuvneshwar took 2 each while Shami and Kedar Jadhav picked up 1 wicket each.
