India V New Zealand, 1st ODI: India Player Ratings
Jan 6, 2019 at 3:51 AM
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Men in Blue as they lost the opening match of the three-match series against New Zealand to surrender a 0-1 lead to the visitors. This leaves the team under some pressure as they must win the remaining two games to seal the series. Before the start of the series, the hosts were considered as the overwhelming favourites but courtesy disciplined bowling and exceptional batting by the Kiwis they managed to ease past India and secure a 1-0 lead for them.
India’s squad for T20 series against NZ:
The Indian batsmen, barring a master class from captain Virat Kohli, failed to get going which didn’t allow them to press on the accelerator. Wickets fell at regular intervals, but it was Kohli who held the fort and scored a magnificent 121 off 125 deliveries to help India put up a competitive 280 on the board.
The hosts bowled well in the first few overs, but once Ross Taylor and Tom Latham got set, there was no way back for the Men in Blue. The two batsmen played sensible cricket and took the attack to the Indian bowlers whenever it was the order of the day. They never allowed the required rate to creep up and eventually won the match by six wickets and with an over to go.
Let’s have a look at the Player Ratings for India for yesterday’s encounter.
Rohit Sharma- 2/5
It was a different sort of an innings by Rohit yesterday as he looked to smash everything out of the park. He got lucky on a couple of occasions when he top-edged consecutive deliveries for sixes over the fine leg region. It was perilously close to the fielder on both occasions, but it went above him to fetch a couple of sixes. He was eventually castled by a beautiful inswinger from Trent Boult when he went for a big heave on the leg side. He made 20 of 18 deliveries.
Shikhar Dhawan- 1/5
The southpaw played a terrific cover drive to begin his innings but soon after he was dismissed by a scorching delivery from Trent Boult. It pitched in the short of length area and swung prodigiously to take the edge of Dhawan’s bat. It was a straightforward catch for Latham as the southpaw could only manage 9 of 12 deliveries.
Virat Kohli- 4/5
Kohli played a terrific innings on his 200th ODI and also became only the 2nd batsman to achieve the feat in his 200th ODI. He struck some magnificent shots and was the main architect of India reaching a competitive score of 280. He drove and cut to perfection, but with wickets at regular intervals, Kohli wasn’t able to go for the big shots early on.
He eventually reached his 31st ODI century going past the talky of Ricky Ponting with 30 centuries. He was eventually dismissed for 121 of 125 deliveries but not before he had struck nine fours and two big hits over the fence.
Kedar Jadhav- 1/5
Batting at No.4, Jadhav fell cheaply to Mitchell Santer after making only 12. He never looked comfortable in the crease and eventually gave a simple return catch back to the bowler to head back to the pavilion.
Dinesh Karthik- 2.5/5
Karthik shared a useful stand of 73 runs with captain Kohli for the 5th wicket to bail India out of trouble. He looked in good touch and played some delightful shots. After scoring 36 of 47 deliveries, he was holed out in the fine leg region. He fielded brilliantly and brilliantly took the catch of Martin Guptill and Colin Munro
MS Dhoni- 2/5
The former captain came into the middle at the fall of Karthik’s wicket and struck a couple of boundaries. He was scratchy in his brief stay and wasn’t middling the ball to perfection unlike which was seen a day earlier in the nets. He was eventually dismissed on 25 of 42 deliveries as he failed to keep down a slower delivery from Trent Boult.
Hardik Pandya- 2.5/5
Pandya had a relatively off day yesterday and managed to score only 16 runs off 16 deliveries before perishing at the hands of Trent Boult. He smashed a six and a four during his brief innings. Pandya also bagged the wicket of Martin Guptill and finished with 1/46 in 10 overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar- 3/5
Bhuvneshwar has been steadily going up the ranks as far as limited overs batting is concerned, and he proved his worth yet again with a breezy innings of 26 of just 15 deliveries. It propelled the Indians to a score of 280 as Bhuvi smashed a couple of fours and sixes each. He bagged the solitary wicket of Ross Taylor, but by then the Kiwis had already won the game. He finished with figures of 1/56 in his allotted ten overs.
Kuldeep Yadav- 2/5
The left-arm chinaman bowler who recently made headlines after bagging an ODI hat-trick against Australia was smashed all around the park especially by Taylor and Latham as Kuldeep conceded 64 in his ten overs. He began well by dismissing Kiwis skipper Kane Williamson with a flighted delivery outside the off stump, but from thereon the duo of Taylor and Latham started reading him well and played him with relative comfort.
Jasprit Bumrah- 2/5
The lanky fast bowler had an off day in the office as he returned with unimpressive figures of 1/56 in 9 overs. He bagged the wicket of Colin Munro with a well disguised slower delivery but from there on it was a downward slide. He wasn’t at his best and received some stick.
Yuzvendra Chahal- 1.5/5
The leggie like all the other bowlers had a mediocre day in the office. He returned wicketless and conceded 51 runs in his allotted ten overs. He bamboozled the Kiwis batsmen on occasions, but the wickets column eluded him.