Team India’s losing streak continues in ODI cricket against New Zealand. In the first match of the three-match series played in Auckland on Friday, the Kiwi team defeated India by 7 wickets.
Batting first after losing the toss, India scored 306 runs losing 7 wickets in 50 overs. For India, three batsmen captain Shikhar Dhawan (72), Shubman Gill (50), and Shreyas Iyer (80) scored half-centuries.
In response, New Zealand achieved the target by losing 3 wickets in 47.1 overs. The Kiwi team’s 3 wickets had fallen for 88 runs. After this, captain Kane Williamson (94) and Tom Latham shared a 145-run partnership for the fourth wicket to snatch the match from India.
This is India’s fifth consecutive defeat at the hands of New Zealand in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup.
Tom Latham scored the 7th century
Wicket-keeper batsman Tom Latham scored his 7th ODI century. He has overall 19 centuries to his name. The left-handed batsman has scored 12 Test hundreds.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has scored 3000 ODI runs on his home grounds. He has completed his half-century. Williamson completed his half-century in 54 balls. Kane picks up the bat with a boundary.
In this match, Indian captains Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill completed their half-centuries with boundaries. 50+ runs partnership with Kiwi captain and wicket-keeper batsman Tom Latham.
Kiwi openers added 35 runs
Chasing a target of 307 runs, the New Zealand openers got off to a brisk start. The pair of Finn Allen and Devon Conway added 35 runs in 46 balls for the first wicket. Shardul Thakur broke this partnership.
3 reasons for Team India’s defeat
- Ineffective bowling Team India’s bowling has not been effective. The fast bowlers took 3 wickets in the beginning, but the Indian bowlers did not get any success in the middle order. Indian bowlers proved costly on Auckland’s drop-in pitch. Everyone looted runs in abundance. There was no bowler who had spent less than 50 runs. Arshdeep was the most expensive. He gave 68 runs in 8.1 overs.
- Bad Fielding Indian team’s fielding in this match was also average. He dropped 3 catches. First Chahal dropped the catch of Finn Allen, although Allen could only score 22 runs. After that Dhawan dropped the catch of Kane Williamson when he was playing on 68 runs. Apart from these two catches, Shardul Thakur did a lot of miss fielding.
- Latham Williamson’s partnership Tom Latham and Kane Williamson shared a 221-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Umran Malik gave 2 shocks
Umran Malik, playing the debut match, got the first wicket of his ODI career by dismissing Devon Conway (24). After that Daryl Mitchell (11) was dismissed.
How New Zealand wickets fell
- Finn Allen: Shardul Thakur got Pant caught behind the wicket.
- Devon Conway: Debuting fast bowler Umran Malik caught wicketkeeper Pant.
- Daryl Mitchell: Wanted to hit Umran’s ball toward deep extra cover. But, the ball went to the substitute player Hooda standing at a deep backward point and Hooda made no mistake.
Team India’s wickets fell like this
- Gill: Lockie wanted to play a shot on a length ball from Ferguson, but mistimed it and was caught by Conway at deep square leg.
- Dhawan: Got out after scoring 72 runs. He was caught by Tim Southee at the hands of Finn Allen.
- Pant: Rishabh was bowled by Loki Ferguson. Pant scored 15 runs in 23 balls.
- Suryakumar: Wanted to push Ferguson’s length ball in the direction of off. The ball went to Finn Allen with an outer edge. Surya got out after scoring four runs.
- Sanju Samson: Wanted to hit the big one, but Milne’s ball went sky-high. Phillip caught out.
- Shreyas Iyer: Wanted to play a big shot, but was caught by Milne at deep mid-wicket off Southee’s ball.
- Shardul Thakur: Tim Southee was caught by Latham behind the wicket.
Iyer-Samson crossed the score of 250
Team India lost four wickets for 160 runs. Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav were out early. In such a situation, Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson took the team’s score to 250. The Iyer-Sundar duo did the rest of the work.
Shreyas Iyer, who came in place of Virat Kohli, put on 94 runs with Sanju Samson, who has been waiting for his turn in the T20 team for a long time.