Wellington: A juicy pitch for pacers and spells of rain combined to produce a gripping contest in the second ODI here on Saturday. In the end, Team India emerged smiling after being declared winners by 4 runs via Duckworth-Lewis method.
Having clinched the T20 International series 3-2 against New Zealand, the men in blue need to win one of the remaining three games to pocket the ODI series as well.
Morning and noon showers delayed the start of the match, which was reduced the match to 47-overs-a-side.
Gurnoor Brar stood out among India’s four-man pace attack after India won their sixth toss in seven games on the tour of New Zealand. Shreyas Iyer asked the home team to bat first, a decision vindicated by some hostile and attacking bowling by Brar (4/30), Anshul Kamboj (2/25) and Auqib Nabi (2/31).
Arshdeep Singh bowled tight spells too, but went wicketless, while left-arm spinner Axar Patel bagged two wickets as New Zealand were dismissed for 134 in 41 overs.
Daryl Mitchell top-scored with 55 even as seven of his teammates fell for single-digit scores.
Despite chasing an apparently low target, India also found the going tough. Skipper Shubman Gill was out for a first-ball duck, edging Jacob Duffy to slip. Virat Kohli (7), the man in form, started with a sumptuous cover drive before hitting one on the up from Duffy straight to cover.
Rohit Sharma (23) struggled with the seaming deliveries before looking to have found a measure of the pitch. He struck two boundaries and two sixes, but then went for an expansive drive only to edge it to the wicketkeeper.
Axar Patel (12), sent it at No. 5 ahead of KL Rahul, was all at sea before gliding a short ball into the hands of thirdman.
At 47/4, India were in trouble. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rahul steadied the chase with an ivaluable 39-run partnership to take India within 50 runs of the target. Iyer, however, was undone by a short-pitched delivery by Kyle Jamieson.
Naman Dhir flattered to deceive and Kamboj was easy prey for Jamieson.
Rahul (26*) was the lone man standing, with three pacers to come. With 22 runs to get in plenty of overs, and New Zealand smelling blood, the rain returned. For a brief while the weather improved, and players were set to return but the skies opened up again.
The match was called off, and thankfully India were ahead of the par score at that juncture.
BRIEF SCORES
New Zealand 134 in 41 overs (Daryll Mitchell 55; Gurnoor Brar 4-30, Anshul Kamboj 2-25, Axar Patel 2-28, Aaquib Nabi 2-31).
India 113/7 in 26 overs (Shreyas Iyer 30, KL Rahul 26*; Jacob Duffy 3-35, Kyle Jamieson 3-35).
Result: India beat NZ by 4 runs (DLS method).
Player of the Match: Gurnoor Brar.
Series position: India lead 2-0 with three to play.
Third ODI: NZ vs India on Nov 10 at Hamilton.
