Black Caps hold their nerve
The Black Caps dug deep last night at Eden Park to seal a oneday-series win over India with a game to spare.
Defending their total of 273-8, they took key wickets up front then held their nerve when it mattered most, dismissing India for 251 in the penultimate over and winning by 22 runs.
Player of the match Kyle Jamieson had a strong debut in his hometown of Auckland, making an important contribution the tall seamer probably didn’t expect to with the bat, then taking 2-43 off his 10 overs with the ball.
Chasing a score that was about 30 runs under par, India fell behind early but stayed in the contest until the very end.
Martin Guptill set his sights on the 2023 World Cup in the prematch press conference on Friday, and looked to be backing up his words with actions yesterday, making a run-a-ball 79 at the top of the order after the Black Caps were sent in.
It was his first half century since the opening match of last year’s World Cup, but he blew a chance at a hundred when he took off for a tight run and was undone by a direct throw from Shardul Thakur.
The run out sparked a collapse of 30-5 from 157-2, in which Tom Latham was LBW for 7, Jimmy Neesham was run out in similar fashion for 3, Colin de Grandhomme was caught off a nothing shot for 5, and Mark Chapman offered Yuzvendra Chahal (3-58) a return catch for one, having come into the side for Mitchell Santner, who had taken ill.
When Tim Southee departed for 3, the Black Caps were 197-8 with 81⁄2 overs remaining, with Ross Taylor in and Jamieson on his way to join him.
What followed was an unbroken partnership of 76 runs off 51 balls – the third-largest for the ninth wicket by New Zealand in an ODI – that gave the Black Caps the slightest of sniffs.
Taylor continued his remarkable run of form in the 50-over game finishing not out on 73 off 74 balls – his highest score at Eden Park in any format since he made 75 against the West Indies in 2009, the match in which Guptill scored a hundred on debut.
He hit two sixes and Jamieson hit two himself in making 25 off 24 balls – a valuable cameo and the 26th-highest score by a Black Cap on debut, not bad for a bowler.
Early wickets were always going to be crucial in defending 273 at Eden Park and the Black Caps got them – removing India’s top four inside 14 overs.
Hamish Bennett struck first, getting Mayank Agarwal to edge one to Taylor at slip on 3, then Jamieson continued his solid debut, bowling Prithvi Shaw, who
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made 24 off 19, with a peach in his opening over.
Southee bowled Virat Kohli for 15 off 25, and when de Grandhomme got K L Rahul to chop one on in his opening over, India were 71-4 after 14.
The senior statesman of the bowling attack also got Kedar Jadhav to hit one to Henry Nicholls in the covers, and India crawled to 108-5 at the halfway stage, with Southee completing his set of 10 and taking 2-41, then leaving the field because he felt unwell.
With Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra
Jadeja at the crease, India were to going to have a chance, but Bennett got the set man just after he passed 50, Latham doing the honours behind the stumps. India slumped further when de Grandhomme bowled Thakur for 18 in the 32nd over, leaving them 153-7.
Jadeja was still hanging about and pulled Bennett for six in the 40th over, leaving India needing 85 off the final 60 balls. The between him and Navdeep Saini was becoming bothersome, with the latter hitting de Grandhomme for three fours in the 44th over.
Saini followed up with a six off Jamieson over the off-side rope, the first real blemish on the new man’s outing, but he made amends by bowling him the following delivery for 45 and ending the stand at 76.
Jadeja brought up his 50 in the 47th over, and as it ended, his side needed 28 off 18.
He lost Chahal in the following over, as Neesham completed a run out, after first misfielding, and that brought No 11 Jasprit Bumrah to the crease. Jadeja was facing Neesham with 23 needed off 12, but could only send the ball down de Grandhomme’s throat at long on, and was the last man out for 55. The series wraps up in Mt Maunganui on Tuesday, where the Black Caps will now be eyeing a clean sweep. partnership