New Zealand draw the 5 match ODI series at Ranchi - both teams tied 2-2

It was a disappointment for Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who lost his first match in his home-town of Ranchi as the Indians lost by 19 runs. Thereby, the Kiwis leveled the five-match One-Day International (ODI) cricket series at the JSCA International Stadium.
Winning the toss, the visitors chose to bat first and managed to post a sore of 260 for 7 that looked easy because of star Indian batmen in the team but turned out to be not so easy. Martin Guptill brought up his fifty in 56 balls and went on to score 72.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 27 October 2016.

Chasing 261, the down-slide began when Rohit Sharma (11) fell early to Tim Southee. Then, Virat Kohli (45) and Axar Patel (38) tried to hold fort but wickets kept falling and, when captain Dhoni (11) also fell cheaply to Neesham, it was an uphill task. Opener Ajinkya Rahane (57) was the only Indian batsman to post a fifty. Tailenders Dhawal Kulkarni (25 not out) and Umesh Yadav (7) put up a record 10th wicket stand of 34 against the visitors but, in the end, India were all out for 241 in 48.4 overs.
The bowlers who wreaked havoc were Tim Southee (3/40) and all-rounder James Neesham (2/38).


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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World T20 opener - New Zealand outplays India on all fronts at Nagpur

India is known to be the master of playing spin bowling but they met their nemesis at Nagpur in the form of New Zealand who outplayed India on all fronts to score a thumping victory. Set to score 127 to win, India folded up meekly for 78 and could not even play out the allotted 20 overs. It was a miserable performance by the batsmen. M S Dhoni top scored with 30 while Virat Kohli made 23 runs and Ravichandra Ashwin scored 10 - they were the only three batsmen to score in double digits.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 15 March 2016.

For New Zealand, it was five matches, five wins and they maintained their 100% success rate over India in Twenty20 internationals. They struggled to score 126 runs but defended it successfully, thanks to their spin trio. Mitchell Santner scalped 4/11 while Ish Sodhi returned figures of 3/18. Obviously, New Zealand read the pitch better than India and spun their way to victory, thanks to failure of the Indian batting stalwarts to deliver.
New Zealand struggled to cope with the tough conditions after Kane Williamson opted to bat. They had dropped Tim Southee and Trent Boult and accommodate three spinners which was a masterstroke.


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