India has been doing excellent across three departments, batting, bowling and fielding. No wonder they have pushed the benchmark of the game to the top level. Meanwhile, during the first ODI in Napier, India bowler Kuldeep Yadav grabbed a stunning diving catch to dismiss Henry Nicholls. Kedar Jadhav, termed as someone with the golden arm did the damage. However, with the ball, later on, he took four wickets and helped India wrap NZ’s innings on 157.
Kuldeep’s catch hogged the limelight
New Zealand after winning the toss elected to bat first at the McLean Park. Though they headed into this series with an incredible run across formats, India made a light work of their batting. Mohammed Shami first scalped both the openers, Guptill and Colin Munro cheaply. Later, Yuzvendra Chahal had two big fishes in Ross Taylor and Tom Latham. The hosts were already struggling to put runs on the board, a partnership was required to settle the ship.
The pair of Kane and Henry Nicholls couldn’t do the same, as Jadhav put an early end to the partnership. The left-handed batsman though had been New Zealand’s reliable middle-order player; he didn’t find his mojo in the first game of the bilateral series.
In his quest to get going, Henry thought of changing the gears. However, he didn’t find the middle of the bat, as Kuldeep Yadav, standing at the mid wicket area; grabbed a stunner diving to his right. The left-handed batsman scored 12 off 17 balls. As the partnership got broken, the Kiwis lost the plot from there on and kept losing wickets. Their captain, Kane Williamson was the highest-scorer with 64 runs to his name.
Shami, spinners out NZ on the mat
Mohammed Shami took three wickets while the spinners shared seven among them, as India wrapped New Zealand’s first innings on a mere 157.
Here is the video –
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