India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI: India win by 8 wickets in Raipur, clinch series 2-0

India rattled New Zealand and registered a dominant victory by 8 wickets in Raipur on Saturday (January 21), thus clinching the series 2-0 with a match to spare.

It also had a historic tinge as Raipur became the 50th ODI venue in India.

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New Zealand Rattled Early:

Putting into bat by Rohit Sharma, the Kiwis had a disastrous start. Finn Allen was cleaned up by Mohammed Shami in the very first over, and the visitors didn’t recover from there. In the last match, Mohammed Siraj raised fire with the ball, this time it was Mohammed Shami, who picked up 2 wickets in the first ten overs. Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Siraj also picked one each as the Kiwis were 15/4 after 10 overs. Things didn’t turn out for good as captain Latham also departed to slip them into further trouble.

New Zealand bundled out for just 108:

Glenn Phillips (36 off 52 balls) and Mitchell Santner (27 off 39 balls) held the fortress for a bit but Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav wrapped up the tail as the Blackcaps were bundled out for a mere 108 runs, their third-lowest total against India in the ODIs.

India Chase With Ease:

In reply, the Indian openers had a contrasting start. Both Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had no problem negotiating the Kiwi pacers as they scored at a rapid pace. Rohit Sharma in particular showed intent to take on the bowlers and played some amazing shots to reach his 48th ODI fifty. This was also the 4th 50+ partnership between Gill and Rohit in their last 5 innings together.

Rohit Sharma (51 off 50 balls) was dismissed by Henry Shipley after completing his half-century, but Gill (unbeaten 40 off 53 balls) continued his rich vein of form with the bat. Virat Kohli, who came into bat at no. 3, was also dismissed for just 11 runs. Ishan Kishan came in and swung a couple of decent blows to seal the win for India by 8 wickets.

In the end, India chased the target with ease and now have taken an unassailable lead with the win.

Aftermath:

The teams will now be travelling to Indore for the final ODI on January 24. That will be followed by the three-match T20I series that starts on January 27.