Virat Kohli’s 31st ODI century went in vain as Tom Latham scored his fourth ODI century to guide his team to a comprehensive win over the hosts in the first ODI. New Zealand won the match by six wickets courtesy a brilliant 200 run fourth wicket partnership between Ross Taylor and Tom Latham.
Earlier, team India won the toss and chose to bat first and made one change in the playing XI as Dinesh Karthik replaced Manish Pandey in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India posted 280/8 in 50 overs in the first innings thanks to a gutsy 121 run innings by the skipper Virat Kohli.
Karthik who last played a One Day International in July against was making a comeback to the national team in this match scored a well made 37 off 47 deliveries. He partnered with the skipper in the middle overs to steady the Indian innings. However, he couldn’t capitalise on the start and lost his wicket at a crucial stage which meant India could only manage 280/8 which was not enough to defend.
Karthik also defended the Indian spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav who were unable to trouble the Kiwi batsmen in the first ODI. According to Karthik, such matches will make the duo’s mentally tough.
“These are the kind of games which makes you mentally tougher as a bowler. These are the kind of games which are going to help them to stand up to pressure and learn how to handle pressure when the wicket is not so much helping them, The team management backed them a lot and they believe in themselves. They are two young guys and they have produced some fantastic spells in the last series and I am sure their confidence is sky high. One game here and there, doesn’t not make you a bad bowler.”
He was also all praises for both Tom Latham and Ross Taylor who shared a 200 runs partnership to guide their team to a brilliant victory. He said:
“Credit to Tom Latham and Ross Taylor. They batted really well. They made use of the conditions and played some good shots. They used the sweep to some good effect.”
He also commented on his performance and said that he should have stayed for a little longer:
“There are two ways to look at it. It was a decent start. Having said that, a player like me should have tried and batted a little longer. And that is something, I am disappointed about. I could have batted a little more and we would have probably ended up getting 15-20 runs more towards the end. May be, I got out at a critical time in the game. So pretty disappointed with that aspect but it was decent start and good to have that partnership with Virat,”