Seven in a row: Team India’s winning streak continues
Virat and Rohit help India to seventh successive bilateral series win
KANPUR: For a while, it looked like it wouldn’t happen. New Zealand, with 35 to get off 24 deliveries, seemed to be have the inside track for an unlikely victory after India had posted a mammoth 337 in the third and final ODI in Kanpur’s Green Park stadium.
But Virat Kohli’s boys hit back, keeping their cool even as the Kiwis lost their nerve in the last four overs. The six-run victory helped India extend their winning streak to seven bilateral one-day series in a row.
India’s run of series wins began in June 2016 with a 3-0 triumph in Zimbabwe.
Since then, they have beaten New Zealand (3-2), England (2-1) and Australia (4-1) at home, and defeated Sri Lanka (5-0) and West Indies (3-1) away. The Kanpur victory allowed them to edge out New Zealand 2-1. India had won six series in a row twice before, once in 2007 and once between late 2007 and 2009.
The hard-fought India vs New Zealand series was level 1-1 before Sunday’s game, and centuries from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took India to a seemingly unassailable total.
Kohli and Sharma put on 230 runs for the second wicket. This was their 12th century partnership, the third-best by an Indian pair behind Sourav Ganguly-Sachin Tendulkar (26) and Virender Sehwag-Tendulkar (13).
The Kiwis, however, were not ready to give in easily. They counter-attacked through opener Colin Munro (75 off 62 balls), who put on 109 for the second wicket with Kane Williamson.
After their dismissals, Tom Latham took over as the anchor, stitching key partnerships with Ross Taylor (79 for the fourth wicket) and Henry Nicholls (59 for the fifth wicket), to bring his side to the cusp of a famous victory.
But, right at the death, the Kiwi batsmen lost their nerve – the turning point when Latham was run out for 65 with 13 deliveries still to go.
KANPUR : Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma struck sparkling centuries as India notched up a thrilling six-run win against New Zealand to capture the threematch ODI series 2-1, at the Green Park on Sunday.
This became the highest run chase at this venue.
After posting a challenging 337/6, India restricted the Black Caps to 331/7 in 50 overs, thus ensuring back-to-back series wins against the rivals at home and their seventh successive bilateral series win.
With New Zealand needing 15 runs off the last six deliveries, Jasprit Bumrah conceded eight and dismissed Mitchell Santner off the fourth delivery. Bumrah was also the brain behind Tom Latham’s crucial run out in the 48th over.
SO CLOSE
Centurion in the first match of the series, Latham had almost snatched a win from India’s jaws, playing some fabulous shots during two crucial partnerships. He added 79 runs for the fourth wicket with Ross Taylor before stitching 59 runs with Henry Nicholls for the fifth wicket.
A 109-run stand for the second wicket between opener Colin Munro and skipper Kane Williamson was threatening India before Yuzvendra Chahal brought curtains on Munro’s fascinating knock with a wrong one.
Earlier, an in-form Kohli not only scored his 32nd ODI century but also completed 9,000 ODI runs in the process, thus becoming the fastest ever to reach the milestone.
Kohli’s 230-run stand for the second wicket with Rohit Sharma helped India dictate terms even though they lost opener Shikhar Dhawan early after New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson put India to bat on a placid turf.
Having scored a century in the series opener in Mumbai, Kohli looked firm, striking his first boundary off Tim Southee in the eighth over.
Kohli punched the ball hard on the front and back-foot and kept rotating the strike with Rohit. Before offering a straight catch to Southee, Kohli made 113 off 106 balls.
WELL TIMED
It was a welltimed century from Rohit too, who had scores of 20 and seven in the previous two matches.
Rohit’s 138-ball 147 was his second century this month after he had scored 125 against Australia in the fifth ODI on October 1.
After reaching his century with a gentle push for a single off Santner, Rohit started punishing the Kiwi bowlers, starting with seamer Adam Milne.
Hardik Pandya couldn’t make the most of his promotion to No 4 but Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav provided the final flourish.