New Zealand got their revenge for the drubbing India gave them in the T20I series, with a comprehensive 3-0 win in the ODI series – the first whitewash in a bilateral ODI series for India in over 30 years.
Electing to field first, the Kiwis had India in trouble fairly early on with Kyle Jamieson once again impressing by getting rid of Mayank Agarwal (1 off 3 balls) in the second over itself.
Skipper Virat Kohli didn’t quite look himself on the day and was back in the hut fairly quickly, having scored 9 off 12 balls.
Prithvi Shaw was looking good for a big knock but suffered a disappointing end to his innings when he was run out for 40 off 42 balls. India in trouble at 62/3 in the thirteenth over.
It was left upto Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to do damage control and that’s exactly what they did. The duo kept the run rate up and started piling on the runs, adding 100 in 110 deliveries.
James Neesham brought Iyer’s much needed innings of 62 off 63 balls to an end – India at 162/4 at this stage.
Rahul went on to score a brilliant century – his fourth ODI ton, also becoming the only Indian wicketkeeper, along with Rahul Dravid, to make an ODI century outside Asia.
Hamish Bennett struck in the 47th over to get rid of centurion Rahul (112 off 113 balls).
A solid 42 off 48 balls by Manish Pandey took India to a respectable 296/7 in their 50 overs.
The Kiwis made heavy weather of what should have been a straightforward chase especially after the start they got – Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls putting up an opening stand of 106.
Guptill was the first to fall, out for 66 off 46 balls in the 17th over.
From there on the Kiwis lost wickets at regular intervals and brought back memories of their T20I series disaster.
Kane Williamson (22 off 31 balls), Ross Taylor (12 off 18 balls), Nicholls (80 off 103 balls) and James Neesham (19 off 25 balls) were sent packing by Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur, reducing New Zealand to 220/5 in the 40th over.
But the hosts made sure not to repeat their shortest format debacle as Tom Latham (32* off 34 balls) and Colin de Grandhomme (58* off 28 balls) teamed up to take the Kiwis home.
New Zealand winning by 5 wickets with 17 balls to spare and sweeping the 3-ODI series.
