New Zealand levelled the five-match One-Day International series against India after winning the second game by six runs on Thursday at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi. After being put in to bat, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson scored his eighth ODI century, but the visitors could only put up 242/9 in 50 overs, which seemed at least 40 runs under par. However, some abject batting from the hosts led to them falling short.
Williamson turned out to be the difference between the two sides. Apart from his 118 and Tom Latham's 46 at the top of the order, none of the other Kiwi batsmen turned up, with the next highest score being 21. Williamson's form was always going to be key to New Zealand's batting success on this tour and it was thus apt that he scored his team's first hundred of the trip.
India had three batsmen hovering around 35-40, but none of them could convert their scores into a big one like Williamson did, which led to a surprising collapse. Some, like Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav were out to totally unnecessary shots and running decisions, while others like Ajinkya Rahane and MS Dhoni fell to some great catches.
At 184/8 at the end of the 41st over, it all looked over for India. But Hardik Pandya had some other plans. Along with some unlikely support from Umesh Yadav, the two gave the Delhi crowd something to cheer about with a flurry of boundaries and some quick running between the wickets.
The equation soon became 16 needed from the last two overs and India were suddenly within a real chance of snatching back the win. However, Pandya mistimed a slap off Trent Boult's bowling in the penultimate over and was out caught for 36(32). That turned out to be the final nail in the coffin. The defeat should serve as a wake-up call to India, who were perhaps guilty of being too complacent given how the series had played out prior to this match.
Earlier, India won their fifth consecutive toss of the tour, and Dhoni asked New Zealand to take first guard on a sluggish Kotla surface. Anything less than 280 looked inadequate and given New Zealand's batting so far in this series, they needed some big partnerships.
The innings didn't start well as Umesh Yadav castled Martin Guptill with an unplayable out-swinger on the second ball of the day. However, Latham and Williamson did the recovery work, taking the team to 90/1 in 16 overs when the first drinks break was called.
Jadhav got the breakthrough for India soon enough, trapping Latham in front with a quick and full delivery. And New Zealand never really recovered following the end of that 120-run partnership, as Williamson was left stranded in the middle. The visitors eventually collapsed from 204/3 to 237/9.
The lack of a genuine finisher in the middle-lower order, someone who can anchor the innings through such crises, was evident. Unfortunately for New Zealand, Williamson cannot bat at Nos 1-11.
India, on their part, bowled well on the slow surface. Jasprit Bumrah was especially troublesome, deceiving the visitors with his change of pace, line and length. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra made good use of the turn in the surface, scalping the important wickets of Williamson, Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson. Only an unlikely successive collapse in this match could save New Zealand, and unfortunately for the hosts that is exactly what happened.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 242/9 in 50 overs (Kane Williamson 118, Tom Latham 46; Jasprit Bumrah 3/35, Amit Mishra 3/60) beat India 236 in 49.3 overs (Kedar Jadhav 41, MS Dhoni 39; Tim Southee 3/52) by six runs.