India vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI, Top Performances: Mohammed Shami's 3-18, Hardik Pandya's 2-16 and Mohammed Siraj's 1-10 are top performances and India win 7th ODI series at home against New Zealand. India won by 8 wickets against New Zealand in 2nd ODI.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 108 (Phillips 36, Santner 27, Shami 3-18) lost to India 111-2 (Rohit 51, Gill 40*, Shipley 1-29) by 8 wickets
Player of the Match: Mohammed Shami (3-18)
Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur was all set for its debut international match as it hosted the second ODI of the three-match ODI series between India and New Zealand on Saturday. The new stadium has a spectacular seating capacity of 60,000 to accommodate the cricket fanatics of Raipur! Quite an unusual experience at the toss, as India captain Rohit Sharma probably had too much of ‘Raipuri Chila’ as he had a brain freeze moment at the toss. Rohit, who won the toss, apparently forgot what India were going to do and eventually decided to bowl first after a momentary pause. Both India and New Zealand went into this match with an unchanged eleven.
Clinical bowling effort from India’s pacers as they yield combined figures of 7-70
The almost capacity crowd in Raipur were witness to a clinical bowling performance by India’s bowlers with the new ball. Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Hardik Pandya, all contributing with wickets to return combined figures of 7-70. A dream outcome for a captain.
On the other hand, New Zealand top-order batters have been far below average in the series and are missing the stability of Kane Williamson in the middle order for sure. Apart from Glenn Phillips and Michael Bracewell, rest of the batters just look out of sorts against the seam and spin thrown by the Indian bowlers.
India dismiss New Zealand for 108; romp home in 20,1 overs
The pitch had a slight tinge of grass and Indian bowlers were quick to pounce on that. Mohammed Shami was on the wicket-takers sheet on the fifth ball of the innings as Finn Allen was bowled off an absolute jaffa of a delivery which seamed away after pitching on a good length. The ever so impressive, Mohammed Siraj didn’t take too long to strike as he dismissed Henry Nicholls in the sixth over. Both Siraj and Shami utilised the green tinge quite effectively as in an impressive opening spell, they picked three wickets and gave away just 15 runs.
India introduced Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur as replacement for the wicket-takers and boy! Hardik and Shardul immediately cashed on this wicket, both getting wickets in their respective first overs. The new ball bowlers were so good that they bowled 80 per cent (48 balls) of deliveries in the good length in the first ten overs. Only two deliveries were short and full length, respectively, in the first ten overs. Unlike the age-old disease of Indian team, they were able to dismiss the lower order batters and bowl out New Zealand for 107 after a brief partnership between Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner.
Unlike New Zealand batters, India’s batters enjoyed the seam and bounce on this wicket as both Shubman and Rohit were quick to get off the blocks chasing this mediocre total. There was no real pressure built up by the New Zealand bowlers either as the two Indian batters were batting freely taking the odd risk in between and within a blink of an eye, the opening duo stamped a fifty-run partnership in the 10th over of the game; this was their third consecutive 50-run stand. Rohit was dismissed soon after off Shipley when the ball kept as low as the underground metros.
Virat Kohli started brilliantly with two back-to-back fours but his innings was cut short by Santner yet again in the series. Shubman and Ishan Kishan helped India seal the series in the end, as India won the second ODI by 8 wickets.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the second ODI between India and New Zealand in Raipur.
Mohammed Shami brings his experience onto the table with a 3-wicket spell
A bit of help from the wicket, new ball in hand and Mohammed Shami with the ball. There are very few bowlers in the world who can exploit the wicket the way the India seamer does. The seam presentation from Shami was as straight as the “Raipur-Bilaspur Highway”.
Shami along with Mohammed Siraj troubled New Zealand’s upper order as the Kiwis were struggling to put bat on to ball. Shami bowled an absolute peach to Finn Allen, which seamed in at an angle after pitching on good length. Allen tried to flick it only to get an inside edge to it, which ricocheted off the pads to hit the stumps.
A beauty of an away-swinger was good enough to see the back of Daryl Mitchell. The ball pitched on good length on the sixth stump and moved away a bit; Mitchell tried to flick the ball, but ended up closing the face of the bat a tad too early and Shami’s swing was good enough to take the toe end of the bat, giving an easy return catch to the bowler on his follow through. After causing the initial damage, Shami was brought back into the attack when the danger man from 1st ODI, Michael Bracewell was looking to launch again. After Bracewell hit Shami for back-to-back boundaries in the 19th over, Shami foxed Bracewell with a well-attempted short delivery. Bracewell tried to pull it but could only manage to get a feather of an edge to the wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan.
Read More: IND v NZ, 1st ODI, 2022-23: Bracewell's 140 at no 7 almost trumps Gill's 208; India win by 12 runs
Hardik Pandya “the bowler” joins the party in Raipur
When the wicket is helping the fast bowlers, Hardik Pandya is one lethal weapon in the short format. But it was not the ball that got the wicket, it was his acrobatic fielding which earned him his first wicket. After two short of length delivery to Conway, Hardik followed up with a good length ball which was the ‘mantra’ on this wicket. Conway almost smashed it from the middle of the bat low and straight down the ground but Pandya, on his follow through, dived left and took a splendid one-handed catch. One of those catches which just stick.
When Santner and Phillips put on a 47-run partnership and were looking threatening to give New Zealand a respectable total, Pandya came back in the 31st over and bowled a smart slower cutter very wide outside off, to which Santner poked his bat for a booming cover drive and got deceived, chopping it back onto his stumps to gift Pandya his second wicket.
Read More: Ind vs SL, ODI Series, 2023: Kohli back in form, Siraj’s powerplay prowess among positives for India
Mohammed Siraj continued his rich run of form with an economical spell
After bowling two overs for just three runs, troubling the batters with the swing, Siraj produced a perfect Test match like wicket. Mohammed Siraj was on point with the new ball swinging it away from right handers and the cross seamers in between to take it away from the left handers too. It was as if Siraj had found a new home around the good length as he kept on darting the ball in that region which troubled the batters on every single occasion.
From over the wicket to the left handed Henry Nicholls, Siraj bowled a perfect good length delivery, the cross-seamer seamed away from the angle taking a thick outside edge of the left-hander giving catching practice to Shubman Gill marshalled at first slip. Though Siraj could only contribute one wicket to the team’s total, his economical spell of six overs gave just 10 runs and put pressure on the New Zealand batters.
Read More: IND v SL, 3rd ODI, 2022-23: India record biggest ODI win in terms of runs (317), perform clean sweep
Statistical Highlights from India vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI
New Zealand slipped to their third-lowest ODI total against India; the lowest being 79 in Visakhapatnam in October 2016.
Mitchell Santner who failed to dismissed Kohli for six years across formats, between 2017 to 2022, dismissed Kohli twice in two innings in 2023 alone in ODIs.
What’s to Come
After India wrapped up the ODI series in Raipur, the blue bandwagon would move to Holkar Stadium in Indore for the third match of the series.
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