Four matches, four losses, New Zealand are under the pump! They desperately need a win, they desperately need their batsmen to step up. If spin haunted them in the Test series, it was pace and swing in the first ODI. And to turn their fortunes around, they return to Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi where they lost their World T20 semifinal against England almost seven months back.
Williamson made 118. © Cricbuzz
Tom Latham was the only batsman to put up some resistance in the first game and the team management will looking for more of the same. Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor in particular, have under pressure for a while to deliver after having a dull tour so far. Will the duo fire today? India on the other hand, have no such concerns. They are expected to field the same XI after putting up a clinical performance. Virat Kohli fired with the bat yet again but it was the debut performance of Hardik Pandya with the ball that caught the eye. Will he bowl with the new ball again today?
The management have confirmed that Ajinkya Rahane will continue to bat at the top of the order so this will be a huge opportunity for him to put up some big scores before Shikhar Dhawan returns to the setup. Suresh Raina will have to wait for his comeback a bit longer as he has been ruled out of this game as well. As we hope for a better contest between the two sides, you can send in your views/questions/opinions to us and we'll feature it in the blog. Tweet to @Narbavi_CFC or comment here at the bottom.
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Sunil Gavaskar says the track is a lot drier than what it was in Dharamsala. And Simon Doull has bad news for the bowlers as he reckons the track is a belter. And with dew expected to play a part in the evening, expect the captain winning the toss to bowl first again.
MS Dhoni has won the toss and has no hesitation in bowling first. Chants of 'Dhoni Dhoni' in the background! India go in with the same XI. New Zealand have made three changes. Trent Boult, Matt Henry and Anton Devcich come in for Doug Bracewell, Jimmy Neesham and Ish Sodhi.
Playing XI:
India: Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson (C), Ross Taylor, Anton Devcich, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi (WK), Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Trent Boult
A special delivery from a rejuvenated Umesh Yadav to begin the game. Bowls a perfect outswinger which pitches on middle, beats Martin Guptill's outside edge to knock the off stump! What a start this is for India. New Zealand are already on the backfoot after two deliveries.
A flurry of boundaries for New Zealand after the early setback. They move to 39 for 1 after 8 overs. Williamson and Latham need to carry on though. Partnerships are the key for New Zealand like the skipper pointed out during the toss.
Excellent effort this is from Williamson! He is showing the rest how it is done. After settling down, he has been toying with the spinners, hitting Axar for a couple of fours and a six and then two more fours off Amit Mishra. In the process, he has reached his half-century.
A very rare moment indeed! Dhoni has dropped a catch. Axar bowled a quicker back of a length delivery which Williamson tried to cut and got an edge instead. The ball falls on Dhoni's gloves but the skipper fails to grasp it. To rub salt into the wound, Williamson hits the next ball for a boundary.
'Golden arm' screams Simon Doull on air! Williamson and Latham were handling the spinners to good effect which forced Dhoni to bring on Jadhav again. He had a long chat with him before the over and the part-timer strikes immediately trapping Latham lbw for 46. The 120-run stand ends. Ross Taylor joins his skipper out in the middle.
It's been a poor series for Ross Taylor and he has to make amends today to take his side to a formidable total. He has had a subdued start again in this game and has been tied down by the spinners. Williamson at the other end is into his eighties.
Taylor is walking off with a smile but he is also very disappointed with himself. Another game, another failure and this time he consumed lot of deliveries and has failed to kick on. The spinners were trying him down already and he tries to break the shackles by slog sweeping Mishra. Instead, he finds Rohit Sharma on the boundary.
Kane Williamson is the second Kiwi captain to score an ODI century in India after Ken Rutherford. This has been an excellent innings from the 26-year-old and a much-needed one with his side in early trouble yet again. He is in discomfort though, cramps probably.
Amit Mishra was pleading and finally the umpire raises his finger. Corey Anderson already had a chance earlier this over when the umpire refused to rule him out despite Mishra trapping him plumb in front. Couple of balls later, the leggie bowls a quicker one on a shortish length and manages to dismiss him. Huge wicket this is for India as Corey can hurt at the death.
Crucial blow this is for the Kiwis. One would imagine that they would be needing at least 275 on this surface but now it is looking highly unlikely as the skipper falls at the wrong juncture. He looks to take on Mishra but find the fielder straight down the ground just inches before the rope. Onus now on Ronchi and Santner to deliver.
Another one bites the dust! Luke Ronchi edges one behind to Dhoni off Axar. Apart from Latham to an extent, the others have failed to rally behind their skipper. Poor stuff from the Blackcaps. They suddenly find themselves at 216/6 from 204/3.
Axar Patel has pulled off a beauty! Devcich tried to ramp one to the fine leg boundary off Bumrah but couldn't get enough meat on it. Axar ran backwards, judged the catch to perfection and grabbed the ball with his right hand and held on to it. New Zealand are in danger of getting all out here. Seven down!
Eight now! Bumrah executes the yorker to perfection and Tm Southee's off-stump is rattled. Some great work at the death by India
Trent Boult and Mark Henry really kept it tight as Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane found it tough to get going. After scoring only seven in the first four overs, Rohit broke the shackles with a six straight down the ground followed by a boundary through the covers.
Rohit Sharma is gone! Boult continued to bowl round the wicket and induce an outside edge which was taken by the keeper. Immediately after nicking behind, Rohit holds his left bicep in agony. It appeared to be a cramp. He walks off the field as the crowd go berserk, their hometown hero Virat Kohli strides in.
What a way to get out! Virat can only afford a smile and rightly so. Mitchell Santner bowls one down the leg side, it was clearly a wide had Kohli left it but he looks to glance it and manages to find an edge. Umpire initially refuses to rule him out but raises his finger after spotting Kohli walking away. Manish Pandey is the new man in. New Zealand are on top!
Guptill's torrid tour doesn't seem to end. ©Reuters
He falls for the trap and pulls a short delivery to fine leg where Corey Anderson runs forward, dives and takes a catch but isn't sure if he has taken it. The umpires decide to go upstairs with the soft signal being 'out'. The third umpire takes a long time to come to a conclusion. And finally decides that there isn't conclusive evidence to overturn the decision made by the on-field umpires. Rahane has to walk back. The crowd chant 'Dhoni, Dhoni' but India are in deep trouble now.
India lose another one as Kotla is silenced again. That was needless as well as Manish Pandey is run out. A full length dive wasn't enough to save him and it appeared to be his call to go for the second run. New Zealand are buoyed! Kedar Jadhav joins his skipper as India further need 169 from 30 overs.
Kedar Jadhav is leading India's recovery at the Kotla and Dhoni is playing the ideal supporting role as the fifty partnership comes up. Jadhav has already hit two big sixes and has quickly moved to 32. India need 120 from 22 overs.
Jadhav will be kicking himself for getting out in that fashion at a crucial time. He looks to guide a full-length delivery to the third man region but instead edges it to the keeper. He is disappointed, he was well set and was looking for a breakthrough innings that would have sealed his spot at No.6 for a while at least. Onus is once again on Dhoni now.
82 runs needed off 72 balls. New Zealand are sending in some quite overs but they know that the game is still in balance as long as Dhoni is out in the middle.
Catches do win matches! And this catch certainly has the potential to win this contest for New Zealand as Tim Southee goes low to his right and takes a one handed catch to send Dhoni back to the pavilion. What a huge wicket this is! The ball stopped on the batsman a bit with Southee bowling an off-cutter. Crowd is stunned! Hardik Pandya joins Axar. This is India's last hope.
Devcich's injury meant someone had to bowl one over. Williamson asks Guptill to do the honours, he bowls two wides to start things off and then bowls a full toss which Axar hits straight down long on's throat. Big blow! And then in the same over, Amit Mishra mistimes a slog to be caught by the substitute fielder Doug Bracewell. India are sinking fast now.
India still have some fight left in them. Hardik Pandya and Umesh Yadav are keeping them in the hunt. The equation has now boiled down to 39 from the final five overs. This could get interesting.
The crowd are right behind Yadav and Pandya. They are egging them on. New Zealand also appear to be crumbling under pressure with some misfields. 22 needed from the final three. We have got an amazing finish in our hands now.
ODI cricket is well and truly alive! What a contest we witnessed between bat and ball and in the end, New Zealand edge the thriller by six runs. Hardik Pandya did all the hard work before getting dismissed in the penultimate over which brought down the equation to 10 from the final over. Umesh took a couple and then a single which meant Bumrah had to be on strike against Southee. The experienced seamer bowled a perfect yorker to clean him up. This win was much-needed after what happened in the Tests and in the first ODI.
©Reuters