New Zealand Bounce Back With Seven-Wicket Win In Second ODI

 

New Zealand levelled the series with a seven-wicket win in the second ODI of the three-match series against India at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot. Thanks to a brilliant batting display from the New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell and Will Young, the Blackcaps scored an easy win.

 

Chasing a target of 285, the visitors had a shaky start as they lost openers Devon Conway (16) and Henry Nicholls (10) early in the innings. They were reduced to 46/2, but the duo of Young and Mitchell took charge of things soon and formed a 162-run partnership for the third wicket. The former scored 87 runs while the latter signed off the match with a knock of an unbeaten 131 runs from 117 deliveries laced with 11 boundaries and two sixes. New Zealand chased the target with 15 balls to spare.

 

Earlier in the match, New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first. Two batters in the form of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill stood out for the Indian team, but none of the other batters played a big knock and that kept the team's total under 300. Gill scored 56 runs from 53 balls while opening the innings, but failed to capitalise on the start he got to convert it into a big score. KL Rahul delivered in a situation where the hosts were losing their wickets and constructed a brilliant knock of an unbeaten 112 runs from 92 deliveries. Rahul's knock in the lower order helped the Indian team post 284/7 on the scoreboard. Kristian Clarke was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand with three wickets, while others also played their part.

 

For India, Washington Sundar, who has been ruled out of the series, is replaced by Nitish Kumar Reddy in the playing XI. Sundar has been ruled out due to a side strain he sustained during the series opener. For the visitors, Jayden Lennox has been handed his ODI debut by the team, and he will replace Aditya Ashok in the lineup.

 

Playing XI

 

India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

New Zealand: Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Jayden Lennox, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson