India marked another ODI series win after embarrassing the world’s number-one ODI team New Zealand on Saturday at Raipur. The Kiwis were swept away by Rohit Sharma and his team in a completely one-sided second leg. The Men in Blue won by eight wickets and sealed the series, a consecutive series victory after defeating Sri Lanka.
The Kiwi batting line-up that rocked India in the last match was ineffective this time. After New Zealand’s batting, India was sure of victory because India bowled out New Zealand for just 108 runs after deciding to bowl first. It was only known how many overs to win the game with a low target to chase.
Rohit (51), who played the captain’s innings in the run chase, led the way with a fifty, and India won easily.
With this, India has taken an unbeaten lead of 2-0 in the three-match series. Score – New Zealand 108 in 34.3 overs, India 110 for two in 20.1 overs.
New Zealand were left helpless as the Indian bowlers all performed equally well. Mohammed Shami, who has been criticized for not being in such good form for some time, showed a performance that made up for this shortcoming in this game.
Shami started by bowling Finn Allen for a wicket on the fifth ball of the first over and did not stop. The Kiwis’ innings ended with 108 runs in 34.3 overs as the other bowlers took over. It wasn’t the total Kiwis dreamt of. No one in the top five saw double digits.
The performances of Glenn Phillips (36), Mitchell Bracewell (last match century hero) (22), and Mitchell Santner (27) took the Kiwis past 100 runs. Otherwise, it would be a disaster for the side to have such a defeat.
Mohammad Shami took the helm of Indian bowling. He took three wickets conceding only 18 runs including a maiden in the sixth over.
Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar took two wickets each and provided good support to Shami. Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, and Kuldeep Yadav picked a wicket each.
The low target of 109 runs did not challenge India at any stage. Skipper Rohit Sharma’s (51) fifty made India’s victory easy. India won by losing only two wickets in 20.1 overs. When Rohit and Gill added 72 runs to the scoreboard in the opening wicket, India secured their victory without breaking much sweat.
Rohit hit seven fours and two sixes in 50 balls. Virat Kohli (11) made a quick comeback but Shubman Gill (40) and Ishan Kishan (8) completed the win.
After the toss, Indian captain Rohit Sharma chose to bowl and India came up with a dream start. Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur were also good with the bowl. There wasn’t breathing space for the New Zealand batters as India excelled with the bowl. New Zealand bowlers had not much to bowl at and they accepted defeat in the end with 8 players remaining to bat.
It was a complete dominance for team India throughout the game only because of the way their bowlers put on a show. India came out with the same team that won the first match.
New Zealand also had the same squad in the second ODI. They were too good in the first match so everyone expected a strong comeback from the side. But now, they want to forget the game and focus on the upcoming short format series.
India’s victory in the first game was not an easy one. Batting after the toss, India made a huge total of 349, but this score was far from safe.
