Team India made a strong comeback in their first must-win match in recent times with their A-game to the park to defeat New Zealand by 6 wickets in the 2nd ODI at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
Having lost the first ODI in Mumbai, the men in blue had no option than winning the Pune game in order to keep the 3-match series alive. he hosts did that in style after restricting the Kiwis to 230-9 and the chased down the meagre total in 46 overs to level the series.
It was a clinical performance from the Indian bowlers, who in the first ODI struggled to break the match-winning stand between Tom Latham and Ross Taylor. On Wednesday, the bowlers didn’t allow the Kiwi batsmen to settle in.
This was India’s 100th ODI against New Zealand, and they celebrated it by notching up their 50th win against them.
Here are some intriguing stats about the match:
- India registered their 50th win out of 100 ODIs against New Zealand (Lost 44, Tied 1 and NR 5) – success % 53.15.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/45) has recorded his best bowling figures against the Kiwis in ODIs, surpassing the 1 for 38 at Napier on January 19, 2014.
- Kumar has got his fourth Man of the Match award in ODIs – his first vs New Zealand. It was also his first Man of the Match award in ODIs.
- Tim Southee dismissed Rohit Sharma for the fifth time. Only Angelo Matthews has bagged his wicket most often than Southee – 7 times in 27 ODIs.
- Dinesh Karthik’s 63* was his second highest score in ODIs on Indian soil next only to his career-best 79 vs South Africa at Gwalior on February 24, 2010.
- Karthik scored his ninth fifty and all of them resulted in victories for India. His average in winning cause is 41.24 with the tally being 1031 in 39 innings.
- Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliant innings of 68 off 84 balls is his first half-century in six ODIs vs New Zealand.
- Dhawan also became the 23rd Indian batsman to complete 1,000 runs in ODIs in India – his aggregate being 1045 (ave. 43.54) in 25 matches, including three centuries and 7 fifties.
- Henry Nicholls (42) has posted his highest score in a losing cause in ODIs.
