NZ in India

First topic message reminder :

India has picked the squad and unfortunately promising all rounder Binny has been left out without a fair run...while Rohit gets picked with a promise of extended run.

Today NZ are playing Mumbai and promising swing bowler Balwinder singh Sandhu has picked both of NZ wickets

After showing signs of coming back to form, the India skipper has at last produced his first 50 of this series for himself. Has been an innings whrein Kohli has to rain himself and overcome moments of uncertainty time and again. But he's still there, battin g on 56 and trying to take his side to a respectable total.
The fact that his friend Rohit Sharma has for ones rightfully finds a place in the playing 11 and that he doesn't have to invent something truly ridiculous to justify his selection mus have helped!!

KPF, no batsman has scored a hundred in the series so far, and Pujara's 87 remains the highest score of the series so far. Hopefully Kohli would better that today.
And the ball that got Pujara, there was not a great deal that he could have done about it. And now that Anil Kumble has established himself, think Pujara can play with a sense of freedom. And so long as the bowlers are doing their job, Kohli won't want to sacrifice Pujara for his friend Rohit. And don't think Virat would fancy batting at 3 all that much!!

Kohli gets a hundred.....he should make this a big one
and Rahane should go on and convert....
this current generation ain't converting their big 50s to 100s and big 100s

Fine innings from the Indian captain. The pitch wasn't the easiest, it was a bit 2 paced and timing the ball didn't seem very easy. But Kohli, after a slow start, had things very much under control. Played some very fine shots in the course of the innings. Hopefully, he'll build on it tomorrow and make it a really big one. Interestingly, this is Kohli's first home hundred after his hundred against the Australians nearly 3 years ago.
Good support act from Ajinkya Rahane too. But unlike Kohli, Rahane never looked comfortably in. The ball kept beeting his bat or finding, the inside edge, outside edge and topedge from time, played a few in the air without total control....... But his temperament stood out yet again, willing to fight through and not giving his wicket away. In between, played some nice shots too. And eventually, the partnership between the 2 negated the advantage New Zealand had when they had India at 100-3.
Forgot to say this earlier, but obnoxious from New Zealand to leave Wagner out for someone like Neesham. Yes Neesham can bat and he has a good record against India in particular. But Wagner is a much superior bowler...... And he has been the one who has been making things happen when nothing would be going for the bowling side. And brings a great deal of energy to the bowling crease every time he has the ball.

Rahane is only batsmen in the current team that can be among the all time best indian batsmen.....

his average is 49.......and the only one who with a bit more focus can be a 50+ batsman from this generaton

saw full days highlights now and my observations....

--this is truest of the 3 pitches so far in this series inspite of some spin and "two-paced" as the commentators call it....India needs to try and get 500 here......for NZ may be able to get 300-350 in the first inning...before pitch cracks and if it does at all. They have an extra batsman in Neesham and quite an explosive one.


--and India may find on D5 their spinners are very tired from a lot of bowling in the test and series.......and a 3rd spinner is is being missed. Rohit wil have to do some bowling and seamers will not get away with an easy load like T1 and T2.


--Vijay's dismissal was freak and Gambhir played some strokes but did not seem settled.....seemed like chancing his arm based on half judgement, half guessing the length.....and predictably fell to a fast and full....not moving his feet.
worrying is that instead of trying to graft, and build an inning...he thought the best way is to hit his way out.

--Pujara's dismissal looked spectacular....as all dismissals do when a RHB is clean bowled beaten on the outside  edge to an away going delivery....

but it was yet again flawed technique....his feet were stuck to the crease...he was playing from his standing position......
when he should have played on the front foot . Had his left foot been a step forward and across....he would have covered the line of off stump.
Pujara is getting a few runs on home or hme like pitches ( including WI and Lanka) but he will struggle when in Aus, NZ, SA and Eng.

we need to get to 500+ by or  just after tea tomm....a healthy scoring rate is possible because the pitch is better and outfield lightening fast

--if NZ bat very well there is an outside chance of a draw...more likely....the game might be won and lost in the last session of D5....unlike T1 and  T2 where India won comfortably inspite of some rains

India owning the morning session as Kohli and Rahane extended their partnership to 258. India 358-3 at lunch, with Kohli not out 1 short of his 150 and Rahane batting on 124.
New Zealand came out aggressive, particularly testing Rahane with quite a few short balls. Like yesterday, Rahane wasn't the most comfortable, got badly hit ones, tried to take them on and didn't always look in control. Kept getting into difficult position as he tried to come forward to start with and couldn't quite make the adjustment to go back. But he weathered the stormed, kept playing his shots and eventully as the session went on, attained much greater control, and that has to really worry New Zealand.
Virat on the other hand, just continued from where he left off yesterday, pretty much in control of things, playing some fine shots, and when New Zealand put defensive fields, not unnecessarily trying to manufacture shots, something he used to do and get himself into trouble thus.
Hoping for the 2 of them to continue the same way.......
Yes, this does look a pitch that's more batsman oriented and Ashwin and Jadeja will have to work hard to earn their wickets on this one. So India do need runs and need them big.

Rahane's average is 51 now......and even if he gets out, I believe it will stay at 50

India 435-3. Kohli on 191, Rahane on 157, the partnership 335 so far.

Both batsmen going pass their test highest. Kohli batting on 207, his 2nd test double, and Rahane on 161, his first score above 150 at this level. India 456-3. New Zealand focusing on stopping the runs now and thus taking time out of the game.......

Think India should look to bat the day and add another 100-120 more at least. And if they still have wickets left, bat up to an hour on day 3 and go well pass 600 so that NZ would be completely batted out of the game.
Then perhaps, a wicket might bring 2 or 3 quickly and the decision might be taken out of Kohli's hands.

yeah contrary to non-stop declare and have a go comments from shastri....I think Ind should bat the remaining 14 overs today...and try to get 600+..and ensure they do not waste time having to bat again......if NZ avoid the follow-on marginally.

557 India declared and NZ have 9 overs to bat....well....another scenario would have been to add anotehr 50 runs by end of play and make the follow-on target 400

Rohit cracks another unbeaten 50 and pushes his average to 37.....jadeja slowly building his batting average to 25

New Zealand managed to survive the 9 overs without much drama. Even Guptill is still there to fight on for another day!
Still think India should have batted on. Shastri anyways is an idiot! But the team went in with conventional thinking, and if Guptill had fallen early, then that would have created considerable pressure on Kane Williamson, NZ's best batsman....... So a thinking that has its merits, but grounding them to dust approach would have been better on this track I feel. The pitch is still good for batting. And it will be difficult to shift KW here, and Latham is in good touch. Ross Taylor is bound to score runs sooner or later. India have managed to keep him quite so far in the series, but on this pitch, he would like to turn this series around for himself. And Ronchi has been getting starts in all his knocks in the series, with Neesham in, NZ have proper batsmen down to 8. So even if Ashwin and Jadeja bowl with all their skills, and Shami find some reverse, if NZ are to score 358 in this series, it has to be on this track.
Then perhaps, 557 might prove to be too much of a score and NZ might just collapse.

msp83 wrote: So even if Ashwin and Jadeja bowl with all their skills, and Shami find some reverse, if NZ are to score 358 in this series, it has to be on this track.
Then perhaps, 557 might prove to be too much of a score and NZ might just collapse.

I think they will go so far as getting 350-400ish
most likely save follow-on by 4th morning........
leaving India a lead of 170ish and about 5 sessions of whihc India will have the better part of 2 sessions...get about 200 more and leave NZ to score 370ish on last day.

by having batted 10 more overs India would have given themselves about 1 to 1.5 sessions more to bowl out NZ

So New Zealand couldn't quite cross the follow-on, but scored enough so that Kohli had to bat again. They had a fine start, the openers putting on a hundred + partnership for the first time in the series. Martin Guptill, the sureshot walking wicket of the series topscored with 72, and James Neesham, who loves Indian bowling, made 71. Both were unlucky to get out the way did. Guptill was run-out when a hit from Ronchi got deflected on to the non-striker stumps via Ashwin's fingertips. And then Neesham was given out LBW when he was clearly struck outside off when trying to sweep Ashwin.
Besides those 2, there was another 50 from Tom Latham. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, New Zealand's best batsmen, both failed. Ashwin finished with 6-81, and Ravindra Jadeja took 2 wickets, including a nice setup of BJ Watling who was building a useful partnership with Neesham.
As New Zealand scored 299, think Kohli didn't want to take a chance and decided to bat again. Think India should stay positive and bat close to tea, perhaps put NZ back on some time before tea with a lead close to 430-450. Unless of course New Zealand manage to run through their lineup. The Indian openers have already built the lead by another 18 runs by stumps, a session and a half should be fine I feel.
An opportunity for Gautam Gambhir to retain his reserve opener position, but only if he's able to bat again after retiring hurt with a shoulder injury....... and an opportunity for Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara to end the series on a positive note just like they started it. Particularly for Vijay, who has been patchy after the first test.

Meanwhile, like Ravindra Jadeja yesterday, Murali Vijay has also been warned for running on the danger areas of the wicket. Has there been a team strategy to try and rough the wicket up as much as possible? If it is there, they have to stay within the lines of the law and should not cross the legitimate lines. And they really don't need to push the boundaries on this in any case. Hope Kumble and Kohli will quickly rethink.......

I saw the highlights now and India dropped about 3 catches.....however had they not had those two freakish run outs........350+ was likey

the rationale of batting again is not clear.....tiredness of spinners, only 2 spinners.....
OR
the pitch is deteriorating and they don't want to risk chasing even 100 runs in 4th inning.....
but i think they will bat no more than 40 overs tomm.....that should give them a lead of 400+ which will be plenty

jadeja and ashwin need a much deserved rest...it would be good to see Jayant yadav in action in odis

India continue to build the lead, they went into lunch at 127-2. Gautam Gambhir, returning to bat after the silly run-out of Murali Vijay, made a sprightly 50. Think he has done enough to unseat Dhawan from the reserve opener position. Think when Rahul returns, it should be Rahul and Vijay to continue to open with Gambhir in the reserves. Yes he's a senior player and yes Vijay had a bit of a falling away after that first test, but the latter has plenty of credit left in the bank, and Gambhir had lapsed into serious debt by the time he was dropped in 2012 itself and added more to it in his previous comeback.

Cheteshwar Pujara with another 50, his 4th of the series. He has now 4 scores of 50+ and one in the 40s, and the only time he was unable to reach at least 40, he was wrongly given out. Repaying Anil Kumble's solid support superbly.

Pujara gets a hundred and an unbeaten one finally and Ind declare......
Pujara's  batting average is now 49.22 and Rahane's with another N.o cameo rises to 51.37

As I said earlier I think...Rahane will keep it above 50 and Pujara will drop to mid 40s

47 overs left in the day....Ind set a target of 475......I think they could have declared about 4 overs earlier....had Pujara not been so close to 100

I don't think Gambhir's 29 and 50 off which the 50 came in pressure-less situation when the match is all but won......is enough to displace Dhawan.
In the Peking order its Vijay, Rahul, Sgikhar and Gautam in that order.....

I don't mind though all 4 of them in the squad and Gambhir / dhawan being used as reserve openers cum middle order batsmen

This has become one of those games though where its hard to really judge a players ability and long term value, India have simply steam rolled an already tired New Zealand in all departments.
The attack they have faced is pretty poor, with only 4 proper bowlers and one of those not really being test standard. Henry and Southee did well to survive the first innings without breaking down and were never going to be bowling many balls close to full pace.
Without a gold standard spinner like Ashwin or any depth to the bowling attack its pretty much game over once India have won the toss.

Gooseberry wrote:This has become one of those games though where its hard to really judge a players ability and long term value, India have simply steam rolled an already tired New Zealand in all departments.
The attack they have faced is pretty poor, with only 4 proper bowlers and one of those not really being test standard. Henry and Southee did well to survive the first innings without breaking down and were never going to be bowling many balls close to full pace.
Without a gold standard spinner like Ashwin or any depth to the bowling attack its pretty much game over once India have won the toss.

It won't be so easy against Eng......who are a harder team.....as they train and startagize better in tests, have better batsmen, deeper batting.
I don't think Eng's seam bowling is any more superior to NZ
Nor is their spin bowling in any way distinctly better than that of NZ.........and no where close to Swann / Panesar class that defeated India last time.

Just Eng's hunger and intensity in tests will be a few notches higher than NZ and batting deeper....with some X-factor batters that can take the game away...
The must pick dashing opener Roy and include Butler....who along with Stokes and Bairstow are 4 guys who can take the game away. That's Eng's best chance of winning some tests.....someone plays a 80% SR hundred and takes the game away...like KP did in the second test on the last tour...and turned the tide.

India would have to play the 3rd spinner...somehow in the 11

Williamson gone as I type 42-2

KP_fan wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:This has become one of those games though where its hard to really judge a players ability and long term value, India have simply steam rolled an already tired New Zealand in all departments.
The attack they have faced is pretty poor, with only 4 proper bowlers and one of those not really being test standard. Henry and Southee did well to survive the first innings without breaking down and were never going to be bowling many balls close to full pace.
Without a gold standard spinner like Ashwin or any depth to the bowling attack its pretty much game over once India have won the toss.

It won't be so easy against Eng......who are a harder team.....as they train and startagize better in tests, have better batsmen, deeper batting.
I don't think Eng's seam bowling is any more superior to NZ
Nor is their spin bowling in any way distinctly better than that of NZ.........and no where close to Swann / Panesar class that defeated India last time.

Just Eng's hunger and intensity in tests will be a few notches higher than NZ and batting deeper....with some X-factor batters that can take the game away...
The must pick dashing opener Roy and include Butler....who along with Stokes and Bairstow are 4 guys who can take the game away. That's Eng's best chance of winning some tests.....someone plays a 80% SR hundred and takes the game away...like KP did in the second test on the last tour...and turned the tide.

India would have to play the 3rd spinner...somehow in the 11

Williamson gone as I type 42-2

The difference with Englands seam attack is that they can field 4 test standard bowlers. New Zealand have gone into these games with 2 or 3. I agree on Englands spin attack, whoever they pick it will have the same cobbled together feel and New Zealands....they have plenty of options for fielding 3 spinners but no star in the vein of Ashwin.
The batting should have more depth, but has the same brittleness at the top and some big questions to answer. The saving grace for England is the trump card of having a senior bat keep wicket and 3 all rounders which enables them to have a depth to their bowling attack and keep the seamers fresh. You shouldnt see England spinners being asked to bowl 40+ overs each in an innings unless they are actually taking wickets.

Broadly Im in agreement, they should be a tougher prospect than NZ ...but India look like they are on their game and in a better place as a team than they were 4 years ago. Ashwin is the real difference that means their 4 man attack is viable, although if England can bat long and handle him that will bite India.

NZ it seems don't want to come back tomm

Can you blame them?

the lack of fight from NZ has been disappointing.....

back to Eng vs. Ind that's next....

--The seam attack of NZ with their top 4 is very  capable......Boult, Southee, Wagner are very good and Henry also quite good...with speed and reverse ( reminiscent of Mark Wood of Eng)

man to man they match Eng's top 4 except Anderson would be   a bit better than Boult ...but then Wagner is better than Eng's No-.3...and they have the variety of left arm seam which. There is no left arm seamer in Eng's mix of top 7...although there was a guy in ODis( name eludes me)

and Eng has depth beyond top 4 also with seam bowling and Eng's seamers can bat....is where NZ lacked

-I am wondering what Eng's combination will be. Their strength is their bowlers who can bat....so genuine all-rounders Woakes and Stokes have to play.

and the have to include Anderson and Broad who are Eng's top 2 seamers

--and they do need 2 spinners on and Indian pitch.

so that's 1 bowler too many and definitely one seamer too many.....
and so who can they drop out of those 6?

To me Broad should sit out.....make way for a specialist batsman.
Can they afford to drop Broad...or is he too big a personna now to be dropped ?

--who would be the 2nd spinner ? the veteran off spinner ( name eludes me) or Rashid ( is Rashid in the squad)
Rashid would be better as he can bat and the alternative off spinner is not earth shattering
that way they would have capable batsman down to No.10 and it would be like India having to get 2 times the NZ side out in every English inning

--would they bring Butler as a batsman ( given that Bairstow is WK)

--from an India POV.....ashwin makes Indian wins ridculously easy on these pitches....each win has come in 4 playing days...it's only because of rain some games went into D5.

Do no underestimate Jadeja and Mishra.....and if in a theoretical worst case Ashwin was not fit.....a line up of Mishra + Jadeja + one more support spinner (like Kuldeep or Jayant) would be a still very hard for Eng to handle.

It would be a very stiff home test( in the literal sense of the word)  for India............. and by far the sternest test for Eng in quite some time.

Winning some tosses, putting up fighting totals using batting down to No.10 and keeping the game alive until the 4th inning i.e putting 150+ totals to chase for India would be Eng's best bet

I quite liked the balance of the 4+2 attack England went with in the UAE. The issue with three seamers and two spinners is that England's spinners don't offer a huge amount of control, and therefore the seamers risk being overbowled. I suppose one of Batty or Ansari could offer more control than Rashid (or Ali) but it's a bit of an uncertain gamble. I expect England to go with the 4+2 option, and to line up looking something like
Cook
Hameed
Root
Duckett/Ballance
Stokes
Bairstow
Ali
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Anderson

They'll need the batting to step up seriously to have a chance. They'll also need some luck with the tosses: in the UAE they lost all three, and NZ lost all three here, and it does make a difference. You wonder if NZ had been able to bat first and put on something between 250 and 300 what could have happened. As it was India built a decent to big lead on first innings and were able to bat NZ out of the game in their second innings.

Well, on what turned out to be the last day of the series, all the fight went out of New Zealand and they just gave in so easily. Seemed all that Ashwin had to do was to turn up and bowl! He did make it look so ridiculously easy, particularly in that last hour. It was an utterly dominant performance from Ashwin. His overseas record needs some serious improvement, but Ashwin is an absolute champion at home and it is not just about the tracks, it is about his skills, his ability to beat the batsman in the air, his willingness to learn and adapt. Towards the end of the game, Manjrekar and Siva were discussing Harbhajan Singh in comparative terms. The one standout thing in that discussion for me has been the general lines that Ashwin's been bowling, a lot more outside off than Bhaji ever did. That is an attacking line for an offspinner, something that Graham Swann did so very consistently. Harbhajan always preferred the stump lines, and became far too defensive far too quickly. Ashwin also showed similar tendencies at the start of his career, but has been able to adapt and evolve.
England as a side presented the sternest challenge to him at home as a bowler. Kevin Pietersen, Cook and Matt Prior, played him pretty well last time, and Ashwin did not do enough to change things around last time, not working on change of pace/line/efforts at beating the batsman in the air last time. But he is a different bowler today, and it won't be easy for England.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I quite liked the balance of the 4+2 attack England went with in the UAE..

In 6 out of last 7 tests( except Kolkata) vs SA and NZ ..........in India the pitches were such that you could do with one seamer.....the 2nd seamer if in the side offered variation but was underused....the 3rd would be denfitely surplus...and 4th unthinkable.

Eng may still go with 4 because that's their template with UAE and their natural comfort in mind........but sooner will come down to 3 unless the 4th guy is in for his batting.

The top order looks really flaky......other than Cook and Root no one gives me comfort and even Root is yet to be tested on such pitches....his one test on last tour notwithstanding.

Ballance ...although has a good test match temperament and innings building skill, and I am an advocate for him.....the way he lunges at the ball closing the face of bat towards legside when defending......will make him a caught  at forward / backward short leg to spinners...

Bell was one real good player of spin on such wickets, soft hands and playing the ball late..... and should have been seriously considered as a "horse for course" for this tour.

PS* If they still have to play 6 bowlers...they would be better playing 3 spinners...will give them more variety and serve them much better

KPF, think Bell can play spin only when there is no spin available. He's been god awful otherwise....... His overall record in India isn't great despite a knock or 2 in pressure less situation. And in any case, think he's finished at the top level. Was never really the most consistent player at his peak, can't see why England should now go back to him. They gave him a rope longer than the one that even Rohit Sharma or Martin Guptill have got!!

Cook
Duckett
Hameed
Root
Bairstow
Stokes
Ali
Woakes
Rashid
Broad
Anderson.
That could be a pretty decent lineup for England. Yes Duckett and Hameed are untested at the top level, and a tour of India may not be the ideal platform to do so. But I am really not convinced Ballance is going to much better. Ducket has a reputation of being explosive at the top, and should compliment Cook well if he comes off. Root's spin playing abilities would be even more crucial at 4 and so I think England shouldn't have him at 3 and then leave it all to an unsure middle order. The middle order isn't the greatest in terms of batting quality, but they all can play quality test match innings on their day, down to Rashid at 9, and Broad can slog a few on a very good day admittedly they come few and far in between these days.
It might seem 6 bowlers are one too many. But then Ali and Rashid can travel quite quickly and may not be able to bowl the kind of numbers that the New Zealand spinners like Santner or Patel managed. So effectively, they both have to be considered as making up 1 bowler at times. Don't think their reserve spin options are any better. New Zealand played Santner, Craig and Sodhi in the first test, but the lack of quality meant they couldn't be that effective........

Hameed will play and he will open..IMO Duckett is more likely to slot in at 4

Since we are not discussing the India domestic season separately and since we already have had a discussion on wicketkeepers, I thought it worthwhile to mention that young Rishabh Pant brought up his 2nd hundred in as many games in the Ranji Trophy this season. And like the first one, this was another aggressive innings, 155 of just 165 balls.
Don't know much about the quality of his glove work, but just hope he's able to continue to develop on both fronts, and evolve as the long term successor to Mahendra Singh Dhoni in all formats.......

msp83 wrote:Since we are not discussing the India domestic season separately and since we already have had a discussion on wicketkeepers, I thought it worthwhile to mention that young Rishabh Pant brought up his 2nd hundred in as many games in the Ranji Trophy this season. And like the first one, this was another aggressive innings, 155 of just 165 balls.
Don't know much about the quality of his glove work, but just hope he's able to continue to develop on both fronts, and evolve as the long term successor to Mahendra Singh Dhoni in all formats.......

what pitch did he score his runs on--->I mean relatively how were the overall scores of the game?
this year in ranji there are some absolute patta-Roads

PS* I agree its a good idea too keep FC discussion on the onging Indian series threads

Oh, this innings did come on a flat road, but Delhi had one their first game where again the scores were big, but it didn't seem like a road.
The thing with Pant is that he has been batting like this at the U-19 level, and did have a couple of good knocks in the IPL last season. And he bats in the top 6 for Delhi. With his emergence, their long term wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht has moved to J&K....... And unlike Sanju Samson, Pant, at least as of now, is regularly taking the gloves in the longer format as well.

ODI times now.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni wins the toss and India are bowling. When on earth is Kane Williamson going to win a toss in India?
Hartik Pandya making his debut for India. Its Rahane and not Mandeep Singh at the top. The fever means Suresh Raina just doesn't walk back into the side. Kedar Jadhav slated to bat 6 with MS moving up to 5. Axar Patel and Amit Mishra in charge of the spin department in place of the rested R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Umesh and Bumrah the seamers.
Corey Anderson and Tim Southee back after injury layoff for New Zealand. Trent Boult is being rested, and Matt Henry is also sitting out as Bracewell comes in.

Pandya with a wicket in his first over in ODI cricket. He went for 3 boundaries in the over, 2 of them edges, and when Guptill edged a 3rd time, it went to Rohit Sharma at slip.
Good move from MS to give Pandya the new ball. Think Bumrah is more effective with a ball abit older.......

as I have wanted....Pandya gets a break through in ODIs.....expensive but attacking....creating chances and he is generating upto 143kph .......and if he delivers a good series ...he wll soon come in reckoning for tests also.

he must put in some good FC games also this ranji season.

I must confess....most exciting player Pandya is in my view to have emrged in a long time...a genuine fast bowling allrounder.....and I am watching him closely

By the time Jasprit Bumrah comes on first change, New Zealand have lost 3 wickets. Their 2 best batsmen, skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor have joined Guptill back in the hut. Latham's fighting on, and Corey Anderson is batting in at 5. Umesh got the latter 2 wickets of successive deliveries. New Zealand 42-3 after 10.

The challenge for Hardik would be to maintain the intensity and though there is plenty of good things about his batting and bowling, both areas are still in need of some development for the test level. A very exciting talent for sure, and any day better than the likes of Stuart Binny and Rishi Dhawan.

And KPF, watch out for Rishabh Pant, he not only plays for Delhi and bats like Viru Sehwag, he talks so refreshingly without the usual clichés, again on Sehwag lines. And his FC record is much better than his limited overs record at the ddomestic level, all be it from a very small sample size!

New Zealand meanwhile continue to slide, 48-4 as Anderson grils one from Hardik to Umesh who took a smart catch.

And again it is the Hardik-Umesh combination, this time accounting for Luke Ronchi.

after having them 8 down for 100 odd.....Dhoni has let them get closer to 200....

his inability to close out lower orders using bowlers is exposed again......and stands out now that we have kohli

Some pretty effective hitting from Tim Southee who has hardly justified his batting abilities at this level. But he has come off today, 55 of 45 balls before he gave it away in usual style. But his partnership with Latham has given New Zealand a little bit of space here, if Latham and Sodhi can some how bat out the overs and get the score beyond 200, there will be at least something to bowl at.
NZ 190-9 in the 44th over.

No, they aren't getting there as Mishra takes out Sodhi for his 3rd strike. Latham carries the bat, unbeaten on 79. He has been their batsman of the tour, and yet again stands out among the ruins.

So in the end, a walk in the park for India in the first ODI. Virat Kohli led the batting charge with an unbeaten 85, and he finished the game with a 6, Dhoni style.

And meanwhile, on the FC front, Rishabh Pant converted his 155 notout overnight into a triple ton, 308 of just 326 balls. Of course it was a road of a track that had already seen another triple and a double ton from Maharashtra's Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bhawne. But Pant is only 19, he kept wicket during that massive partnership between Gugale and Bhawne, lacked significant support when he was batting, yet kept smashing it all around. Only the 2nd wicketkeeper to score a Ranji triple ton.

The 2nd ODI is ongoing. A Kane Williamson hundred, 118, has helped New Zealand post a score of 242 in their 50 overs. Tom Latham made 46, and there wasn't much else.
Jasprit Bumrah took 3-35 and was brilliand at the death overs yet again. Amit Mishra, though a bit expensive, took 3 crucial wickets in the middle overs after New Zealand at one point looked good for more than what they eventually managed.