Gambhir beams as India excel 2-0
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747,
it was highly unlikely. India won the 1st ODI quite comprehensively under the leadership of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 who has been asked to captain the side in the absence of Dhoni, Sehwag, Raina and Tendulkar.
Gambhir won the toss of the 2nd One Day International played at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur and elected to field first on a flat track. The Indian bowlers bowled tightly and at no stage allowed the Kiwis to take the game away from India.
The Kiwi batsmen scored their runs in small partnerships but never kicked on to convert them into a big score. In their allotted 50 overs, New Zeland managed to put 259 runs on the board for the loss of 8 wickets. Opener, Martin Guptill was the top-scorer
for New Zealand with 70 of 102 balls.
Although Guptill’s strike-rate was not that high but as an opener he did his job and tried to bat until the end of the innings and that was an ideal scenario for the rest of the batsmen as they could have played around him and increased the run-rate. Guptill
struck 3 fours and a six during his knock. Scott Styris was the only other Kiwi batsman to impress with a quick 59 for 56 deliveries only. Styris stroked 5 fours and a six in his 59.
Kane Williamson and the captain Daniel Vettori also chipped in with 29 and 31 respectively. The pick of the bowlers for India was Sreesanth who broke the back of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 batting lineup with 4 crucial wickets for 47 runs. Ashwin, Patel and Pathan
took a wicket each and bowled economically as well.
In reply, India was off with a good start chasing 259 runs. Gautam Gambhir and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035 nicely complimented each other as the later was playing the role of the aggressor. At no point of the Indian innings did Gambhir give an impression that he has been
bothered by the additional burden of captaincy on his shoulders. He was like his usual-self and played his shots at will and instead kept the Kiwi bowlers under-pressure from the word go.
India chased down the score of 259 runs with only 2 wickets down and 7 overs left in the innings. Gautam Gambhir was the star of the show with a magical 138 of only 116 balls which included 18 fours. The star of the 1st ODI, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 played
a cameo of 64 in which he stroked 8 fours. Yuvraj Singh remained unbeaten on 18 and also struck the only six of the Indian innings. The Kiwi captain, Vettori and the medium pacer McKay took a wicket each.
India won by a thumping margin of 8 wickets and is in the driving seat in the series so far. On the other hand, New Zealand would need to devise a new strategy for the 3rd ODI on Saturday as they cannot afford to lose any more matches.
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