Picture : Twitter/ BCCI
Maintaining its dominant show India secured a comprehensive eight-wicket win against New Zealand in the second ODI on Saturday to clinch their seventh consecutive ODI series at home.
Skipper Rohit Sharma’s fifty coupled with a fiery performance from the Indian bowlers made sure that the hosts cruised to victory, chasing a paltry 109 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur.
The Indian captain played a 51-run knock while Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 40 runs to take India over the line. Henry Shipley and Mitchell Santner took a wicket each.
Chasing the target, the hosts had a shaky start with the Indian captain getting beaten and surviving a close call in the very first over. However, Rohit pulled Henry Shipley for a boundary in the second over to get things going for.
The openers didn’t face any discomfort after initial few overs as they started to middle the ball and caress boundaries with ease. Rohit stamped his authority with some powerful hits, smashing Lockie Ferguson for a six in the fifth over with his trademark hook shot.
It was one-way traffic as India piled up the misery on the visitors, with the Indian captain firing on all cylinders. He took the hosts to 52/0 at the end of the 10 overs, smacking a four and a sublime six in the over.
The right-hander brought up his fifty in the 13th over but was unfortunate to be dismissed on a ball that kept drastically low and was declared leg before wicket for 51. He stitched a 72-run stand for the opening wicket with Gill.
Gill carried on his purple patch and made 40* as the hosts lost Virat Kohli for 11(9) in quick succession.
Ishan Kishan and Gill took India past the Kiwi total in the 21st over. The right-hander finished things with style as he struck a superb boundary over mid-on to secure eight-wicket win.
After coming under a severe assault at the back end of the New Zealand chase in the first ODI, the Indian bowlers unleashed their fury to skittle out the visitors for 108 in the second ODI.
The Indian new ball bowlers ran riot on a pitch that had decent grass cover, making use of the favourable bowling conditions on offer. Mohammad Shami was the wrecker-in-chief, scalping three wickets. Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar picked two wickets each. Siraj, Kuldeep and Shardul took one wicket each.
Most New Zealand batsmen could not reach double digits. Mohammad Shami was declared the player of the match for his clinical bowling performance in the first inning.
India have now 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
