India celebrate after beating New Zealand 3-2
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Amit Mishra wooed the crowd at Visakhapatnam with a magical spell of bowling that saw him carve through New Zealand’s batting line-up and not only hand India 190-run win, but a 3-2 series win as well.
Mishra finished with 15 wickets in the series, the best by an Indian bowler in a five-match ODI series against New Zealand. It is also the second-most wickets taken by an Indian bowler in a five-match ODI series, with the best being Mishra’s 18 wickets against Zimbabwe in 2013.
Choosing to bat first, India got off to a solid start before opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed by James Neesham for 20.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli built on the sturdy foundation set by the openers as they amassed a 79-run partnership, during which Rohit surpassed his half-century, before he was removed by Trent Boult for 70, which came off 65 balls and included five boundaries and three sixes.
Rohit built a solid foundation with his knock of 70
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Kohli and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept the runs flowing with a 71-run stand, during which Kohli brought up his fifty, before Dhoni was trapped lbw off the bowling of Mitchell Santner for 41.
Manish Pandey fell shortly after, while Kohli ended up making 65 off 76 balls, which included two boundaries and a six.
Kohli scored his 38th ODI fifty
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A quickfire 39 not out by Kedar Jadhav and Axar Patel’s 24 saw India finish on 269/6 off their 50 overs.
Boult and Ish Sodhi picked up two wickets apiece, while Neesham and Santner chipped in with one wicket each.
Chasing 270 to win, New Zealand lost openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham early on before skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor somewhat steadied the innings.
Once Williamson was dismissed for 27, New Zealand completely folded due to Mishra as they went from 63/3 to being bundled out for a dismal score of 79.
Mishra was the most successful bowler with five wickets, while Axar Patel snapped up two and Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and debutant Jayant Yadav claimed one wicket each.
Mishra finished with figures of 5-18 off six overs
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Williamson was less than impressed with his team’s performance, and said: “Without a doubt the total was a lot above par. India have played really well throughout the series. It’s very hard to look past today’s performance for us, you expect to put up a good performance whether we win or lose and today we were terrible. We expect a lot more of our batting, and losing 8 for 20 or whatever is unacceptable. Playing against one of the best sides in the world, there is room to learn. A lot of comes on the back of losses, so tough lessons. But it’s important we take them in.
“The disappointment is very fresh after a performance like this though. Positives – Test series was extremely tough, coming into this one-day series, after heavy defeats, we fought hard in some tricky surfaces. That was a good effort. We pride ourselves on learning game to game, and today we didn’t show that. There was number of individuals who did their reputations good. Someone like Tom Latham with the bat and Mitchell Santner’s all round work.”
Dhoni was delighted to have won the decider, and said: “One of the best performances by the bowlers. This was one game where the spinners bowled with a lot of assistance. Before this when we bowled first, the wicket was always better to bat in the first half. Exceptional performance in this game, there was a bit of dew. But the pace the spinners bowled was perfect. Mishra’s beauty is he bowls slow, so as a keeper you have time to recover the ball to stump batsmen. And in tandem with Axar, who bowls flat and quick, it was very good.
“I think Virat was superb with the bat, we got off to a decent start. When Rohit got injured, the message was if you think you can’t carry on, just play your shots. Once he got out, he gave us some momentum. We felt it was a difficult wicket to freely rotate. That’s when we decided to play the big shots. We felt 270 was par-plus but considering the dew factor that was necessary. Glad we could rest some key players, with some big Test series coming up. Happy with our performance. I feel the batsmen down the order, like Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel and Manish Pandey gained a lot of experience. It is difficult to get the complete product in international cricket so the new players should be given time to develop.
“There are few ways to approach the game. The IPL way, you keep hitting and chase down but in international arena, you fail and that’s when you become more calculative. It’s not necessary to win in 40 overs. You can do so in 50 as well.”
Mishra was named Man of the Match and Man of the Series, and said: “It’s great for the team if I perform like this, they’ve supported me during tough phases. At the start, I was a little tense, but Dhoni told me to calm down, bowl at the wickets, and thanks to that, all went well. There was bounce and spin in the pitch, so bowling slowly, bowling normally worked for me.
“Anil Kumble also talked to me about it before the match, to trust my strength, to trust the flighted balls. Axar Patel has also been doing well, and if newcomers keep doing well like this, it will be good for India. Very happy with the way I am bowling, hopefully I can continue. All credit to my coaches, MS, Kohli, Ajinkya, everyone.”