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A little over a week ago, New Zealand were the No.1 ranked ODI team in the world.
Now, after three demolition jobs by India, the Black Caps have plummeted down the ICC rankings to fourth place. Yesterday’s match again saw New Zealand lose to India, suffering their third consecutive loss to concede the ODI series 3-0. While the first ODI was a close fought contest, the Kiwis slipped away in the second ODI and again failed to be competitive in the third match as well.
Here’s a look at how the match unfolded, and what’s next for these two sides in white ball cricket.
India Threaten to Break World Record in Big First Innings
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There’s something in the water in India this year, and it’s not the usual bacteria. Over their past four innings of batting first, India have made scores of 409/8, 373/7, 390/5 and 349/8.
While some cricket fans felt like surely this kind of batting momentum could not last, India again proved their critics wrong yesterday by putting on yet another batting clinic. At one stage it looked as though the home side would threaten England’s ODI record of 498/4, when they motored out to 212/0 at the half way mark of the innings. Captain Rohit Sharma and the in-form Shubman Gill led the charge, with both scoring tidy centuries at well above a run-a-ball.
New Zealand fought back admirably, however, and restricted India to 385/9. Having been in such a strong position at the halfway mark of the innings, such a final score will have felt like a win for the Kiwis, who managed to keep a lid on the other batsmen, with the exception of Hardik Pandya’s 54 from 38 and Shardul Thakur’s 25 from 17 at the end.
While no bowler ended with an economy rate they’d be proud of, both Jacob Duffy and Blair Tickner claimed three wickets each.
Conway Leads Respectable Reply for New Zealand
In a manner similar to the first ODI, New Zealand did a reasonable job of accounting for themselves in response to a large target, without winning the match.
This time it was opener Devon Conway who did the lion’s share of the heavy lifting, striking 138 from 100 balls to take the Kiwis along at a competitive run rate. However, it wasn’t run rate that was New Zealand’s primary concern, as a long term partner for Conway proved hard to come by. Finn Allen again got out in the first over, and while Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner all got starts with scores between 24 and 42, regular wickets were the bane of New Zealand’s innings. Eventually the batsmen ran out, and the Black Caps were folded for 295, with the best part of nine overs remaining.
Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav were the primary assassins, each taking three wickets, while Yuzvendra Chahal claimed two as well.
New Zealand Hoping for Fresh Start in T20 Series
With the ODI series not unfolded how they’d hoped, New Zealand now turn there eyes to the other white ball format, with a three match T20 series unfolding over the next week.
The two sides played a scrappy three match T20 series just last November, which saw two matches impacted by rain as India eked out a 1-0 series win. New Zealand will be hoping for redemption here, and perhaps will feel the format is better suited to their current squad, given their inability to bat the distance yesterday.
Watch out for our India vs New Zealand first T20 betting preview coming shortly on Pundit Feed.
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