After getting whitewashed in the T20I series, New Zealand turned things around and pulled off a sensational chase at Seddon Park, to take a lead in 3-match series. Indian bowlers couldn’t stand up against the onslaught by Ross Taylor and the stand-in skipper, Tom Latham. Let’s look back at the top-5 talking points of the 1st ODI between New Zealand and India.
1. New look Top-order:
In the absence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, India handed over the ODI caps no 230 and 231 to Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. They put on a decent stand but both threw it away in quick succession as you would expect from players with lack of experience.
Prithvi was caught behind off de Grandhomme in an attempt to run it down towards the third man and in the next over, an uppish square cut by Mayank found the fielder at point.
The onus was once again on Kohli and Iyer and they responded well with a 100-run partnership. Kohli was looking fluent with his trademark batting style while Iyer rode his luck with a dropped chance off Neesham.
2. Kohli’s googly riddle and Rahul-the finisher:
Latham delayed Sodhi’s introduction as both Kohli and Iyer were looking to dominate. But finally, in the 29th over, Sodhi came in and stuck in the very first over. Like in the previous two IPL seasons, once again Kohli misread googly which sneaked through the gap between the bat and the pad.
In comes- KL Rahul the finisher. The role which he justified so well in Rajkot that Indian management totally forgot he used to open once. And once again he showed why. A lofted whack over long-off started his proceedings and on the very next ball, he launched a googly straight over long-on and never looked back since.
At one time he was dealing only in sixes. On the other side, Iyer picked up the pace to complete his maiden hundred. India added 185 runs in the last 20 overs to take their total to massive 347. With this huge target set for New Zealand, India were the obvious favorites.
3. Kiwis solid response & Jonty ‘Kohli’ run-out:
Guptill and Nicholls put on a solid stand of 85 runs. They were a bit cautious against the likes of Bumrah but put pressure against Shami & Thakur. Eventually, it’s Thakur who provided the breakthrough with the wicket of Martin Guptill.
Tom Blundell failed to have a memorable debut, scoring only 9 runs. Once Ross Taylor entered the center-stage, the Kiwis found their wings. Henry Nicholls steadily moved towards his hundred. That’s when skipper Kohli pulled off a sensational run-out which could remind you of that famous run out by Jonty Rhodes of Inzamam-ul-Haq in the 1992 World Cup. A flying Kohli whipped off the stumps to catch diving Nicholls short.
Once again King Kohli showed he is not just the king of batting but also fielding.
4. Latham-Taylor show:
Long before KulCha dominated the world, Tom Latham & Ross Taylor pair was the first to decode their mystery when they swept everything to put pressure back on the pair at Wankhede Stadium 2017.
Today in the absence of Chahal, they took a cue out of that partnership and followed the same suit. Sweep, reverse sweep, slog sweep for which Kuldeep and Jadeja had no answers. When the captain was forced to bring pacers back, the pair dismantled them too and was not in the mood to leave it for the end.
Ross Taylor completed his 21st century and Latham’s 48-ball 69 left very little chances for the team to do anything similar to the last 3 T20Is. Though New Zealand tried their best to repeat the same heroics, it was a bit too much to ask at the end.
5. Some retrospection:
India need to revisit their playing XI plan once more. It’s the 3rd consecutive ODI series when they lost the opening match. Will they successfully make a comeback this time too as?
They need to ask some simple questions. Is Saini a better option than Shardul? Does Jadeja provide the same wicket-taking option as Chahal? Jadhav to be considered before Pant and Pandey?
Jadhav’s case is a more curious one. Since the Australian team sorted out with a bit open stance and looking to whack everything over mid-wicket, Jadhav’s bowling couldn’t find a second wind. Since Nagpur ODI 2019, he played 16 matches and bowled only in 9 innings. In those 9 innings, he bowled 24 overs and conceded 167 runs at an economy of almost 7. No wonder Kohli didn’t trust him for even one over in this desperate situation. Jadhav is not even in the T20I plans.
Shardul Thakur and Jadeja playing together means we take away 20 overs of wicket taking option. When India dominated in ODIs pre World Cup, their primary focus was to play four clear wicket takers (including KulCha). Just one bad match against England in World Cup and India are not even considering to revisit the plan which gave them so much success.
India must go back to their theory to pick wickets in the middle overs otherwise in these tiny grounds you can’t play the catchup game.
The next ODI will be played on 8 February 2020, Saturday. Will, the Indian team bounce back, as they are known to do in recent times or will New Zealand bag the series and reclaim their lost glory as a home side? What do you think?
Related Reading:
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 Points Table and Match Results
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 All Teams & Full Squads
- IPL 2020 All Teams, Players, Full Squads, Complete Schedule, Past Winners
- Vitality T20 Blast 2020 Full Match Schedule & Past Winners
- CPL 2020 – Where to watch? (TV / Livestream Options)
- CPL 2020 Points Table, Match Schedule & Results, All Past Winners
Leave a Reply