The whites have given way to coloured clothing as the ODI series gets underway at the picturesque ground at Dharmshala. The change in the format did not bring any change in the fortunes of New Zealand though. Carrying forward the story from the test series, the kiwi batsmen collapsed yet again, this time on a flat deck while India chased down the easy target with relative ease. Virat Kohli was the hero of yet another chase as he closed the match with a six to finish at 85 not out. The real heroes though, were the Indian bowlers.
India won the toss and chose to field first, keeping in mind the dew factor in the evening. New Zealand opened with Martin Guptill and Tom Latham. Indian skipper MS Dhoni threw up a surprise by handing the new ball to ODI debutant Hardik Pandya to open the bowling with Umesh Yadav, in place of the regular Jasprit Bumrah and Pandya obliged with the early wicket of Guptill. The pitch was good for batting and in fact the experts believed it was a bat first wicket but MS Dhoni, known for his unusual but effective decisions had opted to bowl first and the results became evident soon. The new ball was moving and bouncing and the New Zealand batsman were probably too hung over the failures in the test series and kept loosing their wickets to poor shots. Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner make up a droolworthy batting order but today they collapsed like a pack of cards. Such was the midas touch of Dhoni working today, that he brought in part timer Kedar Jadhav, who rarely has bowled for his domestic team and has 1 wicket in domestic matches to show for, ahead of Amit Mishra and Axar Patel and he got 2 wickets in 2 balls to push New Zealand into slumber at 65 for 7. It was not the pitch but poor shot selection from the New Zealand batsmen.
Only Tom Latham looked in some sort of form as he stood on one end as wickets kept tumbling at the other. Latham put on 41 runs for the 8th wicket with Doug Bracewell and then a face saving 71 runs with Tim Southee to bring some respectability to the score. Southee was the dominant partner there as he smashed the Indian bowlers for 3 sixes and 6 boundaries to score a whirlwind 55 off just 45 balls. Latham remained unbeaten on 79, to become the 10th opening batsmen ever to carry his bat through in an ODI match, as New Zealand folded for a paltry 190 runs. Indian bowlers had a rewarding day as debutant Pandya and Amit Mishra got 3 wickets each while Umesh Yadav and Kedar Jadhav, both got 2 wickets to their names. 190 was always below par score here.
India started well with Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane in particular was aggressive from the very first ball as he combined with Rohit for a steady opening partnership of 49 runs inside 10 overs. Rohit (14) and Rahane (33) fell in quick succession but a small target meant the new batsmen could take their time. Virat Kohli looked his usual self and scored comfortably while Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni got 17 and 21 respectively to give Virat company. India chased down the target with almost 17 overs and 6 wickets in hand. Kohli was unbeaten on 85 while Kedar Jadhav scored 10 not out.
India pocket the first match to go 1-0 up in the 5 match series and would look to carry the winning momentum forward. New Zealand has a lot on their hands to do before the 2nd match at Delhi. They need to get their confidence back and have the belief in themselves. On paper, this New Zealand team is a very competitive side and if they play to their potential, it will be a very closely fought cricket series.
IND vs NZ, 1st ODI, Dharmshala
Brief Scores:
NZ: 190 all out (43.5 overs)
India: 194/4 (33.1 overs)
Man of the Match: Hardik Pandya