The Rajkot pitch left both teams stumped to a fair extent on Wednesday. However, New Zealand were clearly better in their execution with both ball and bat to beat India handsomely by seven wickets in the second ODI and level the series 1-1.
The New Zealanders entered the record books, becoming the first team to chase down a total successfully in an ODI at the Niranjan Shah Stadium. For that, a massive credit goes to the quality player in Daryl Mitchell (131 not out off 117 balls) and Will Young (87 off 98 balls), who turned out to be a perfect assist for the former after New Zealand’s inexperienced bowling attack produced a far better performance than in the series opener on Sunday.
It was purely due to KL Rahul’s unbeaten 112 off 92 balls that India could post a competitive total of 284/7. But Mitchell’s ton, his eighth in the format like Rahul’s,
overshadowed that of the India keeper-batter to help
the Black Caps home with 15 balls remaining.
Usually, the Rajkot pitch is excellent for batting. But the one in use on Wednesday, having some cracks on it, was a tad different in terms of its slowness and variable bounce.
Under lights, it did seem that batting was a little easier with Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav not looking potent enough, as New Zealand accumulated as many as
126 runs from the two spinners’ 18 overs. Of course, Kuldeep was a bit unfortunate as Prasidh Krishna shelled a relatively easy catch to let Mitchell off when the No.4 batter was on 80.
Dew wasn’t a factor on this occasion to make gripping or catching the ball difficult. So, that was just poor work on the part of Prasidh, who was at long-on then. Had he not dropped that one, India could have had an opportunity to put pressure on the visitors and make their run chase tougher.
In all fairness, though, Mitchell deserves kudos for the efficiency with which he aced the run chase. In form and looking confident from the very first ball he faced, the kind of assurance with which he batted at the crease rubbed off on Young too.
The duo forged a game-winning stand of 162 after New Zealand lost openers Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls with only 46 on the board inside 13 overs.
Agreed, Jadeja and Kuldeep were far from being at their best, but alongside Mitchell, Young too was almost spot-on with his shot selection against the spin duo. Young, the Man of the Series in New Zealand’s 3-0 sweep over India in the late 2024 Test series, showed that he had the skills to deliver in the ODI format too.
Equally important was the role of Mitchell’s bowling
colleagues.
Debutant left-armer Jayden Lennox, captain Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips allowed India only 89 runs off their 23 overs of spin with the wickets of Jadeja and Harshit Rana, hitting the right lengths on a helpful track.
But the bigger star with the ball for the visitors was young Kristian Clarke, who bagged the prized scalps of well-set Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Senior pacer Kyle Jamieson, too, did his bit with the timely dismissal of skipper Shubman Gill, just as he was beginning to look dangerous. Since Gill’s departure in the 17th over, India had to wait for over 10 overs for their next boundary, which too was a factor in the game’s outcome.