After whitewashing New Zealand in the T20I series, India locked horns with the Blackcaps in the first of the three-match ODI series at the Seddon Park in Hamilton and suffered their first loss in their ongoing tour. The hosts decided to bowl first after winning the toss and the men in blue continued to show their batting prowess and scored 347/4 in their quota of 50 overs. However, the hosts chased down the huge total with 11 balls to spare owing to a brilliant knock of 109* by Ross Taylor.
Earlier for India, the debutants, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal added 50 runs for the opening wicket in just eight overs. Suddenly, India was reeling at 54/2 in the ninth over after the quick dismissal of Shaw and Agarwal and needed Kohli and Iyer to rebuild the innings. Iyer though took his time early on, but he stayed in the middle and milked the runs smartly with the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, who soon got to his 58th ODI half-century and looked set for another ton.
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But Ish Sodhi came into the attack and yet again, Kohli got out to leg-spinner failing to read the googly which sneaked past his defense and disturb the sticks. Then, Iyer decided to take control along with Rahul as the latter played another brilliant knock of 89* at no.5. Iyer and Rahul started scoring boundaries at will and the former reached his maiden three-figure mark in international cricket as the fourth-wicket stand flourished. Rahul and Iyer added 136 runs together in just 101 deliveries for the 4th wicket.
India finished on 347 runs for the loss of four wickets. For New Zealand, Tim Southee picked two wickets but conceded 85 runs while Hamish Bennett was taken apart for 77 runs in his 10 overs.
Chasing 348 runs, New Zealand got a good opening partnership as Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls added 85 runs. Though Guptill was dismissed, Nicholls continued his class in the middle. He added a 152-run partnership before Kohli affecting brilliant run-out to dismiss Nicholls.
WATCH – Virat Kohli Pulled Off A Brilliant Run-out To Dismiss Henry Nicholls
Ross Taylor kept on smashing the Indian fast bowlers while Tom Latham showed his class against the spinners to make the chase look pretty easy in the middle. It was Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur, who had a forgettable day on the field with the ball.
And also, Latham stood tall with Taylor, who found the boundary fence more often than not and the duo added as many as 138 runs for the 4th wicket to help New Zealand draw the first blood of the 3-match series. Ross Taylor finished with 109* runs while Tom Latham scored 69. The Kiwis chased down the total with 4 wickets in hand 11 balls to spare
Brief Scores:
New Zealand – 348/6 in 48.1 overs (R Taylor: 109*, H Nicholls: 78; K Yadav: 2/84) defeated India – 347/4 in 50 overs (S Iyer: 103; T Southee: 2/85, CDG: 1/41) by 4 wickets and 11 balls to spare
Here is how Twitter reacted to India’s loss:
Ross kaun hai maaloom hai Kya ?
Ross is the boss.
Ross is the one, who in a few weeks will become the first ever player to play 100 Tests, 100 ODI's, 100 T20's
What an Incredible innings from such a wonderful player .Congrats @BLACKCAPS on chasing down 348 with ease #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/AqkyiysxkL— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 5, 2020
61.56 – Ross Taylor's batting average in ODIs in last 5 years. Only Virat Kohli (72.87) has a better average than his 61.56 during this period. Minimum: 1000 runs. #NZvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) February 5, 2020
Silaaii karna hai to @RossLTaylor se sikhe.Well played mate #NZvsIND
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) February 5, 2020
Losing is a different thing, losing after such effort on the field is completely different.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) February 5, 2020
New Zealand's highest successful ODI run chase (348)
Highest successful ODI run chase by any team in New Zealand
2nd highest successful ODI run chase by any team v India; behind Australia (359) at Mohali in 2019
10th highest successful run chase in all Men's ODIs#NZvIND 🇳🇿
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) February 5, 2020
Hope India wakes up to realize that this bowling attack won't beat good sides in good batting conditions. 348 was just about par. India bowled poorly and didn't field well but need more teeth in the bowling.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) February 5, 2020
Terrific win for New Zealand. Stutter towards the end through some careless batting, but this was a fine run chase against an Indian team strong on form and momentum
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) February 5, 2020
Ross Taylor has taken NZ into winning after three unsuccessful attempts during T-20 series. I know how it feels when you got succeeded after 3-4 attempts. 🤭
— Sunil the Cricketer (@1sInto2s) February 5, 2020
Most 100s batting at No. 4 position in ODIs:
19 – Ross Taylor
15 – AB de Villiers
10 – Aravinda de Silva
9 – Mahela Jayawardene#NZvInd— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) February 5, 2020
Last time India conceded 20 or more wides in an ODI match was way back in the 2007 Mumbai ODI vs Australia (26 wides). #NZvIND
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) February 5, 2020
