Half-centuries from Dhawan, Karthik help Kohli's men register comfortable six-wicket win over New Zealand to level three-match series at Pune
Virat Kohli's men have won their last six ODI series. And the Men In Blue ensured that the record remained intact, at least for another four days, by beating the New Zealanders by six wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium here to level the three-match ODI series 1-1 yesterday. Facing a must-win situation following the defeat in Mumbai on Sunday, Team India came up with an excellent all-round performance on a slowish track to restrict Kiwis to a modest 230 for nine. Riding on half-centuries from Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik, the hosts then chased down the target with minimum fuss to make it a one-sided contest all the way. The series will now be decided in Kanpur on October 29.
Shikhar Dhawan celebrates his half century. Pic/PTI
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With a moderate target to chase, all India needed was a couple of good partnerships. They got three 50-plus partnerships, Dhawan and Karthik being part of two each. After Rohit Sharma failed to keep a routine flick shot on the ground, Dhawan and Kohli added 57 runs off 55 balls for the second wicket. Despite Kohli's dismissal against the run of play, Dhawan and Karthik put on 66 runs for the third wicket. Karthik then added 59 runs for the fourth wicket with Hardik Pandya to ensure a smooth passage to victory for the hosts. While Dhawan's 84-ball 68 (5x4s, 2x6s) set things up for India, Karthik's unbeaten 64 took the Indians home with 24 balls to spare. Karthik made a case for more chances at No. 4 stronger, following his 37-run knock at No. 5 in the first ODI, with a clinical effort.
Dinesh Karthik en route his unbeaten 64 yesterday
India got on top of the Kiwi innings as early as in the third over when Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Martin Guptill for 11. Jasprit Bumrah then removed the dangerous Kane Williamson three overs later, followed by Bhuvneshwar's dismissal of Colin Munro. The Kiwis never quite recovered from those early strikes and were forced to play catch-up for the rest of their innings. Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah bowled with excellent control, allowing the New Zealanders to score just 35 runs in the first 10 overs. Such was the dominance of the Indian pacers that there were only four boundary shots in the first Powerplay. Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 3-45 off his 10 overs, while Bumrah conceded seven runs less for his two wickets.
Ross Taylor was caught behind off a well-directed bouncer from Pandya. At the other end, Axar Patel bowled a lot of back-of-length stuff to Latham, not allowing the left-hander to use his favourite sweep shot. Patel then went round the wicket to Latham, pitching the ball outside his leg stump. Latham went for the sweep, but missed it, losing his leg stump in the process. Once the duo were dismissed, the possibility of a big Kiwi score was as good as none. Colin de Grandhomme threatened to change that for a brief period, but Chahal cut short his 41-run cameo to ensure the Kiwis didn't get even close to the 250-run mark.
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