IND Vs NZ 2017: “The wicket eased out in the second half, and it was coming on beautifully.” – Virat Kohli
Oct 29, 2017 at 10:24 PM
India won the third ODI by six runs in a closely fought match at Green Park stadium in Kanpur.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first in a match where toss played an important part in the match because of the dew later on in the match. Rohit Sharma scored another brilliant century as he scored 147 off 138 deliveries. India’s skipper Virat Kohli scored his 32nd century and his second of the series. Kohli scored 113 off 106 balls and was involved in a 230 runs partnership with Rohit Sharma. India finished their innings at 337/6 in their 50 overs.
New Zealand had a fiery start to their innings as Colin Munro got 19 runs in the first over of the innings of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Munro played important innings of 75 off 62 deliveries which gave New Zealand a base to accelerate later on in the innings. Kane Williamson also got back to runs, as he scored 64 off 84 balls. Tom Latham continued his rich vein of form in the series as he scored 65 off 52 deliveries.
For India, Bhuvneshwar had a day to forget as he gave away 92 runs in his ten overs and Hardik Pandya gave away 47 in his five overs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers for India as he picked up two wickets in his ten overs giving away 47 runs. Bumrah picked up three wickets whereas Chahal picked up two wickets.
Here is what Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation-
“It was a pretty close game. Credit to NZ, they fought hard in this series and forced us to play our best cricket. Credit to the skill and character they possess. You’ve to tell yourself that the bowler knows best because he too wants to win the game. With the dew like it was, sometimes it feels even 22 fielders won’t be enough. Glad the guys pulled it through. The wicket eased out in the second half, and it was coming on beautifully. It was good to bat even during our innings but it slowed down considerably. The aim is always to help the team win games, regardless of how many runs I score. Very happy we could get another one in the bag, and move forward to the T20s.”