| New Zealand innings (toss: New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat first) | ||||||
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs scored | 4s | 6s | Strike rate | |
| M Guptill | caught Dhoni, bowled Bhuvneshwar | 11 (9) | 2 | 0 | 122.22 | |
| C Munro | bowled Bhuvneshwar | 10 (17) | 0 | 1 | 58.82 | |
| K Williamson | leg before wicket Bumrah | 3 (14) | 0 | 0 | 21.42 | |
| R Taylor | caught Dhoni, bowled Pandya | 21 (33) | 2 | 0 | 63.63 | |
| T Latham | bowled Axar | 38 (62) | 2 | 0 | 61.29 | |
| H Nicholls | bowled Bhuvneshwar | 42 (62) | 3 | 0 | 67.74 | |
| C de Grandhomme | caught Bumrah, bowled Chahal | 41 (40) | 5 | 1 | 102.50 | |
| M Santner | caught Kohli, bowled Bumrah | 29 (38) | 2 | 1 | 76.31 | |
| A Milne | leg before wicket Chahal | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| T Southee | not out | 25 (22) | 1 | 1 | 113.63 | |
| T Boult | not out | 2 (2) | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Extras: 8 (5 wides and 3 leg byes) | ||||||
| NZ’s total: 230/9 in 50 overs, at 4.60 runs per over | ||||||
| Fall of wickets: 20/1 (Guptill, 2.4), 25/2 (Williamson, 5.4), 27/3 (Munro, 6.6), 58/4 (Taylor, 15.6), 118/5 (Latham, 29.1), 165/6 (Nicholls, 37.5), 188/7 (de Grandhomme, 43.1), 188/8 (Milne, 43.2), and 220/9 (Santner, 48.5) | ||||||
| India bowling | ||||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy | |
| B Kumar | 10 | 0 | 45 | 3 | 4.50 | |
| J Bumrah | 10 | 2 | 38 | 2 | 3.80 | |
| K Jadhav | 8 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 3.87 | |
| H Pandya | 4 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 5.75 | |
| A Patel | 10 | 1 | 54 | 1 | 5.40 | |
| Y Chahal | 8 | 1 | 36 | 2 | 4.50 | |
| India innings (target: 231 runs in 50 overs, at 4.62 runs per over) | ||||||
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs scored | 4s | 6s | Strike rate | |
| R Sharma | caught Munro, bowled Southee | 7 (19) | 1 | 0 | 36.84 | |
| S Dhawan | caught Taylor, bowled Milne | 68 (84) | 5 | 2 | 80.95 | |
| V Kohli | caught Latham, bowled de Grandhomme | 29 (29) | 3 | 1 | 100.00 | |
| D Karthik | not out | 64 (92) | 4 | 0 | 69.56 | |
| H Pandya | caught Milne, bowled Santner | 30 (31) | 2 | 1 | 96.77 | |
| MS Dhoni | not out | 18 (21) | 3 | 0 | 85.71 | |
| Batsmen who didn’t bat: Kedar Jadhav, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Yuzvendra Chahal | ||||||
| Extras: 16 (9 wides and 7 leg byes) | ||||||
| India’s total: 232/4 in 46 overs, at 5.04 runs per over | ||||||
| Fall of wickets: 22/1 (Rohit, 4.3), 79/2 (Kohli, 13.5), 145/3 (Dhawan, 29.2), and 204/4 (Pandya, 40.1) | ||||||
| New Zealand bowling | ||||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy | |
| T Southee | 9 | 1 | 60 | 1 | 6.66 | |
| T Boult | 10 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 5.40 | |
| A Milne | 8 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 2.62 | |
| M Santner | 10 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 3.80 | |
| C de Grandhomme | 7 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 5.71 | |
| C Munro | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 6.00 | |
2nd ODI man-of-the-match:
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, for taking 3/45 in 10 overs
Match top scorer: Shikhar Dhawan (68 off 84 balls, 5×4 and 2×6)
Where was the 2nd ODI won and lost?
The Indian bowlers led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar set up the match for the home team. New Zealand’s top three (Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson and Colin Munro) were dismissed by a blend of clever bowling and ordinary batting in seven overs and with just 27 runs on the board. And, unlike in Mumbai, Ross Taylor and Tom Latham couldn’t fashion a recovery, with Taylor falling cheaply for 21 and having shared only a 31-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Latham and Nicholls put together 60 runs for the fifth wicket. But the match situation was such that the Blackcaps needed a more substantial partnership, while the scoring rate needed to be a bit higher than what they managed. For the first 30 overs, the visitors scored at less than four runs per over (118/5) and as a result, the Indian bowlers and captain weren’t put under pressure. New Zealand’s low run-rate and the regular fall of wickets were proper indications of the quality of Indian bowling, with Kedar Jadhav also joining in on the act, bowling eight economical overs (0/31) and choking up the runs.
Bhuvneshwar (Guptill and Munro) and Bumrah (Williamson) provided the early wickets, then Pandya added Taylor to his list of high-quality batsmen who he has dismissed in the recent past. The wicket of Taylor, given the form he was in, was an important one and the timing of it was also perfect, allowing India to get into the middle order of the New Zealand batting line-up.
Just when Latham and Nicholls, with their partnership, threatened to bring their team back into the match, Axar Patel, who had replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the Indian playing XI, bowled Latham from around the wicket, having switched to this angle only at the start of the 30th over.
The lower middle order and tail weren’t allowed to flourish, as Bhuvneshwar struck early in his second spell, dismissing the set batsman at that time (Nicholls, 37.5) and helping India retain control of the match. Yuzvendra Chahal then struck twice in two balls in the 44th over, to help India restrict the Kiwis to 230/9 and put themselves in the driver’s seat. On the whole, the Indian bowling attack redeemed themselves after a disappointing showing in the first ODI and their performance here was the cornerstone to India’s win to attain parity.
Colin de Grandhomme made an aggressive 40-ball 41, punctuated by five fours and one six, but his innings didn’t make much difference to New Zealand’s standing in the match.
Earlier in the day, Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision which baffled me, simply because of what had happened in the previous match. New Zealand had won chasing and though no two matches are the same, the visitors had no real reason to change what had worked wonderfully for them. India reacted to Latham’s sweeping tactic by dropping Kuldeep and replacing him with Axar, who, as we know all too well, bowls quicker through the air and doesn’t provide the length or the line to sweep. He went on to dismiss Latham with a delivery from around the stumps and the Kiwi wicketkeeper-batsman got out trying to sweep him.
New Zealand top order’s failure cost them the 2nd ODI for sure.