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).
If the bowlers had shown their might in the first ODI it was the turn of the batsmen to display their prowess in Mount Maunganui. The win was setup by the Indian top-order with contributions all through that saw the visitors post a competitive 324/4 in their 50 overs. Kuldeep then weaved his magic yet again to scythe through the New Zealand middle-order and bowl the hosts out for 234 in 40.2 overs.
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 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. Dhawan 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.
