Virat Kohli Lauds India After Win Over New Zealand In Fifth ODI
Feb 3, 2019 at 10:02 PM
India skipper Virat Kohli congratulated the side after their win in the fifth and final One-Day International against New Zealand.
After the failure in the fourth ODI, India, on Sunday, showed that they can cope without their talismanic skipper Virat Kohli in tough conditions too with a convincing 35-run win over New Zealand. Rohit Sharma raised quite a few eyebrows by opting to bat first in swinging conditions. The decision turned out to be a regrettable one early on with New Zealand bowlers all over India.
Matt Henry gave the Kiwis the early breakthrough by castling Rohit Sharma before Boult accounted for Shikhar Dhawan to reduce India to 12 for 2. Highly-rated Shubman Gill failed to, scoring just 7 before Dhoni returned to the pavilion too with just 18 runs on the board. However, impressive knocks from Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya helped India post a challenging total of 252.
Rayudu and Shankar added 98 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter was run-out due to misunderstanding. Shankar scored 45. However, Rayudu went on to score his fifty but missed a well-deserved century by just 10 runs. Pandya then added the finishing touch by slamming 45 off just 22 balls with the help of 5 sixes and 2 fours.
In reply, New Zealand were all out for 217. Mohammed Shami gave India a solid start by dismissing both New Zealand openers with just 37 runs on the board. One run later, Pandya sent back Taylor to put India on top. New Zealand never really recovered from the setbacks and were eventually all out for 217.
Following the game, skipper Virat Kohli, who is currently taking rest, took to Twitter to laud the side, writing:
“Great come back from a tough situation early on to make it 4-1. Shows the character we have. Well done boys. Jai Hind ?? @BCCI”
Great come back from a tough situation early on to make it 4-1. Shows the character we have. Well done boys. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 @BCCI pic.twitter.com/wtBzWCjz57
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 3, 2019