Pune: India played clinical and all-round cricket to defeat New Zealand in the second ODI by six wickets and levelled the three-match series 1-1 on Wednesday.
New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first but couldn’t make the most out of this decision due to the accuracy of both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah at the beginning. Unlike the first match, both Martin Guptill (11) and Colin Munro (10) failed to provide a decent start for the visitors as Kumar dismissed the both of them while Bumrah sent back skipper Kane Williamson for just 3 runs, thereby reducing them to 27/3 at one point of time.
But then came Tom Latham and Ross Taylor-the duo which had won New Zealand the first match of the series. They put on just 31 runs but Hardik Pandya dismissed Ross Taylor (21) to not only break the brief stand but also hand India a good grip over the match. Latham (38) who had used the sweep shot to good effect in the first game was bowled in an attempt to sweep an Axar Patel delivery and all of a sudden, New Zealand looked in good trouble.
However, Henry Nicholls (42) and all-rounder Colin De Grandhomme (41) played brief but meaningful innings to help the visitors settle for 230 runs on the board. Tim Southee also scored 22 runs at the end.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the best bowler for India with three wickets for 45 runs while Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal scalped two wickets each. Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel also took one wicket each.
In reply, Rohit Sharma failed to make an impact once again as he fell for just 7 runs. But Shikhar Dhawan, who had failed in the first game roared back into form with some delightful strokes en route to his 68 of 84 balls which included five fours and two sixes.
Skipper Virat Kohli made just 29 before he was dismissed by De Grandhomme but Dinesh Karthik made a strong case for himself as an occupant of the number four spot as he carefully guided the innings and played an unbeaten 64-run knock that was all about class and timing. Although the total was a small one, yet he didn’t let any jitters and had brief partnerships with Hardik Pandya (30) and MS Dhoni (18*) to help India cruise to a comfortable victory with four overs to spare in the do-or-die match.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was adjudged the Man of the match for his splendid performance with the ball upfront which broke the back of the New Zealand batting.
Brief scores-
New Zealand 230/9 (Henry Nicholls 42, Colin De Grandhomme 41; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/45) lost to India 232/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 68, Dinesh Karthik 64 n.o; Adam Milne 1/21) by six wickets.