NEW ZEALAND DEFEAT INDIA BY 19 RUNS, LEVEL SERIES 2-2

Martin Guptill’s opening salvo, and canny bowling from Tim Southee and James Neesham in dewy conditions, ensured that New Zealand forced the ODI series into a decider at Visakhapatnam. Having won their first toss of the tour in their eighth match, New Zealand, led by Guptill’s bruising half-century, tactfully exploited the field restrictions, and ultimately finished at 260 for 7. The bowlers then frequently varied their pace and found equally good support from the fielders to throttle India’s chase.

Southee was New Zealand’s key figure with the ball, first having Rohit Sharma caught behind with a perfectlypitched outswinger. He returned with the old ball and produced a double-strike to all but snuff out the chase. Kedhar Jadhav was pinned in front by a slower offcutter for a first-ball duck, and three balls later Hardik Pandya holed out to long-off, Tom Latham running to his left to pocket a smart catch. India were left needing 94 off 84 balls. Axar Patel, who was promoted to No. 5, and Amit Mishra briefly rallied with a 38-run partnership for the eighth wicket, Dhawal Kulkarni and Umesh Yadav then added 34 for the last wicket, but the hosts were dismissed for 241 in 48.4 overs.

“It certainly is a great feeling,” said Martin Guptill, Man of the Match. “To put up a performance myself and give the team a defendable total is satisfying. We thought we could have got more but it was a defendable total. It came down to our bowlers to do the job, and they did. Virat is a class player and to get him early was a big step.”

“I think it was the first 10 where we gave away a lot of runs and the extras,” said MS Dhoni. “I think we could have still chased 260 if we had wickets in hand. Quite similar to Delhi where we kept losing wickets. The wicket was best to bat on in the afternoon, and it kept getting slower and slower. The new ball under lights still came on but as it got older it became difficult. Usually there is dew at this time of the year, and in Indian cricket the moment you talk about dew you want to bowl first. We will have to be at our best in the decider.”

“Absolutely happy and proud,” said Kane Williamson. “What we wanted was build partnerships. It was not an easy surface. Although you always want more, 260 was not a bad effort on that surface.”