In what was supposed to be a batting paradise, India defended their total of 270 against New Zealand by defeating them by 191 runs to clinch the thrilling 5 match ODI series 3-2 at Vizag.
A fine bowling display by India, led by Amit Mishra’s magnificent bowling figures of 5-19 in 6 overs led to the demise of the New Zealand batsmen. He was well complimented by Umesh Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah who took 1 wicket each. Axar Patel picked up 2 wickets and Jayant Yadav who made his debut performed well as he picked up the wicket of Corey Anderson.
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After Guptill’s early dismissal in the first over, Kane Williamson and Tom Latham began to lead the attack for the Kiwis, but after Bumrah picked up the crucial wicket of Latham in the 6th over, there was no turning back for the Men in Blue, who were wearing their mothers’ names on their jerseys.
Earlier in the day, India got off to a good start thanks to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who scored 65 and 70 respectively. MS Dhoni provided a worthy contribution with the bat scoring 41 off 59 deliveries. At one point it looked like India would cross 300, but a late surge by the New Zealand bowlers restricted India to 270 in 50 overs. Kedar Jadhav and Axar Patel chipped in with scores of 39 and 24 respectively.
Rohit Sharma on scoring 70 and India winning the series
It was important to bat as long as possible. The wicket was not playing well. It was important to get a partnership going. Unfortunately, I pulled my quads so I had to play my shots. In the end, I was glad that we got to 270 because it was a very good score. We have played some IPL games here and I spoke to myself about how I should bat on this wicket. You need to spend some time at the crease and then play shots. The initial phase was very important. Virat and I got a partnership which was extremely crucial. I was disappointed with not performing in the other matches as I did not play 20 balls in the 4 matches combined, but in this match I adjusted to the conditions. Winning the series was very important and Mishra won it for us. It was good to see a leg-spinner take 6 wickets.
MS Dhoni on winning the match and the series
One of the best performance by the bowlers. The spinners bowled with a lot of assistance from the pitch. They were under the pump but they bowled well and all of them were exceptional this game. The beauty of Amit Mishra is that he bowls slowly along with control he has over the flight of the ball, Axar Patel complimented him well. Virat was superb in the first innings as we got off to a decent start. Virat put up a good partnership with Rohit which gave us momentum. I believe that 270 was a par plus score although we should have scored 10-15 runs more considering the dew factor. I'm quite glad we rested few big players and I'm happy that the youngsters were given a chance and they performed well. It’s time we spend more time on the youngsters so that they can become a complete product in the future.
Kane Williamson on losing a well-fought series
270 was an above par score. India were outstanding throughout the series and deserve the win. We were terrible today and it was a disappointing loss. We expected a lot more from our batting and our display today was not acceptable. There was a huge amount of learning from the series and it’s important we take back a lot from these series and improve in the upcoming series. There were a lot of positives after the drubbing we received in the test series and we fought hard on the tricky pitches in this ODI series and it was a good team effort to win the 2 matches which we did in the series.
Amit Mishra for receiving Man of the Match and Man of the Series
The credit goes to the entire team who supported me throughout the series. I was tensed while bowling but Dhoni came and calmed me down and I was able to pick up a lot of wickets. There was a lot of bounce and spin on the wicket so Dhoni told me just to bowl normally and flight the ball. Axar bowled well as well and both of us were able to perform well. I’m really happy with the way I’m bowling and I hope this form continues for the upcoming series. I'm thankful to my team and coaches.
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