Latham, Kane Williamson help Black Caps ease past India
KOLKATA: India’s transition from the busy lane of T20s to the calmer pastures of ODIs didn’t get off to a promising start as Tom Latham and Kane Williamson combined to add 221 off 165 balls to help New Zealand win by seven wickets in the first of the three-match series in Auckland, on Friday. Fifties from Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer helped India score 306/7, thought to be a par total but Latham scored an unbeaten 145 off 104 balls and Williamson 94 off 98 balls to give New Zealand a 1-0 lead with 17 balls to spare. New Zealand, the No 1 ODI side in the world, are now unbeaten for the last 13 ODIs at home and India have now lost their last five ODIs against them.
New Zealand weren’t runaway winners. This was a slow, calculated assault on the target after Umran Malik, on debut alongside Arshdeep Singh, took the wickets of Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell to reduce New Zealand to 88/3 in the 20th over. But Latham came in and straightaway looked in the groove, scoring his fifty at almost a run a ball before accelerating towards the end, getting his hundred in just 76 balls and racing towards the target with the calm and selfless Williamson playing a steady hand at the other end. They needed 144 off the last 18 overs but New Zealand brought down the equation to 66 off 60 balls after Shardul Thakur was walloped by Latham for four boundaries and a six in a 25-run over.
“It was just one of those days when everything came off well,” said Latham after the win. “Built a partnership with Kane and had a bit of fun, just reacted to things and it paid off. It’s about being in strong positions and reacting to what they were bowling. Was able to find the gaps. The preparation has been ideal, it’s been nice and I was able to hit the ball right today.” India captain Dhawan took the loss on his chin. “We felt good about the total. First 10-15 overs the ball did a lot. It’s a bit different from other grounds. Today we bowled short of length and Latham attacked us there. That’s where he took the game away from us,* especially in the 40th over. That’s where the momentum shifted,” said Dhawan.
Till that over by Thakur who was inexplicably bowling short after short deliveries, India were rather decent despite being a five-bowler unit. Washington Sundar was getting turn and backed up his 16-ball 37 run cameo with a brilliant bowling economy of 4.2 but didn’t get enough support from Yuzvendra Chahal.