INDIA: Indian bowlers led by Mohammed Shami ran through New Zealand’s batting line-up to restrict the Kiwis to 108 inside thirty-five overs. Each Indian bowler had a scalp to their name.
Indian openers stitched a 72-run partnership to put the game beyond the Kiwis’ reach. After India lost two quick wickets, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan knocked off the remaining runs to help India register its second win in the 3-match ODI series.
New Zealand Inning
Mohammed Shami rocked the New Zealand innings in the first over right away by disturbing Finn Allen’s timber. He struck again in the seventh over when he caught Daryl Mitchell off his own bowling.
Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, and Shardul Thakur chipped in with a wicket each to reduce New Zealand to 15/5 in the eleventh over.
Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell put together 41 runs for the sixth wicket before Shami returned to clean up the latter. Phillips then joined forces with Mitchell Santner to get New Zealand a decent score.
Once Hardik Pandya dismissed Santner in the thirty-first over, the Kiwi tail-enders didn’t last long. Washington Sundar cleaned Phillips and Lockie Ferguson before Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Blaire Tickner to wrap up the Kiwi inning at 108.
Indian Inning
Skipper Rohit Sharma and double centurion from the previous game, Shubman Gill, gave India a flying start.
Unlike their Kiwi counterparts, the duo looked at ease while facing the pacers. Sharma, in particular, looked in sublime touch as he toyed with the bowling attack. He smacked Lockie Ferguson for a six in the fifth over for the first six of the game.
Sharma bought up his half-century in the thirteenth over with a single. He lost his wicket in the fifteenth over to a Henry Shipley delivery, which stayed low and caught him plumb in front of the wickets.
Shubman Gill, at the other end, switched gears and hit a flurry of boundaries in the company of Virat Kohli to take India within touching distance of a dominating win.
Kohli, however, lost his wicket to Santner. Kohli played at the delivery and lost his balance in the process. Latham, behind the stumps, caught him outside the crease and whipped the bails off the stumps.
Gill took India to an emphatic 8-wicket win with a boundary off the first ball of the twenty-first over.
Mohammad Shami received the Player of The Match award for his watch-winning bowling effort with figures of 6-1-18-3 which stopped New Zealand from getting a good start.
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