New Zealand gave a target of 259 to the Indians, which Indians reached with the help of a splendid hundred from their skipper.
Gautam Gambhir scored a magnificent 138 not out, which helped his side in reaching home in just 43 overs. It was a much better performance by the Kiwis this time, as they posted a decent total on the board, but their bowling lacked the punch to control the
Indians in their home conditions. For India, their bowlers bowled well throughout the innings and kept the Kiwis in check all the time.
The prime feature of the Indian bowling was the fact that they did not allow the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 batsmen to score freely, and also did not give them much room to hit easy boundaries. Munaf Patel was the pick of their bowlers in economy department, as he bowled
with a good line and length and also managed to pick one wicket. He could have got two if Taylor’s catch had not been dropped. Sreesanth was another prominent bowler for the Indians as he took a 4 wicket haul in the match.
For India, the target was not that difficult to reach and all they had to do was to keep their wickets intact. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 started on a positive note and played some confident shots. New Zealand decided to open their bowling with Nathan McCullum, who was quite
effective in the opening spell. He bowled with a good length and did not give much to the opening batsmen to hit at.
M Vijay struggled during his knock of 33, and found it difficult to score freely off the spin bowlers. He was vulnerable in the middle and bowlers appealed a lot for leg before when he was batting. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Vijay-c1867 was dismissed in the 17th over, when
he was bowled by Daniel Vettori. India at that time were 87-1, and had taken a reasonable start in their innings. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 was the star for the Indians as he continued to bat with a lot of confidence.
He did not play any irrational shot and scored whenever he got the opportunity. Even in his partnership with M Vijay, he was the main contributor as far as runs were concerned.
The feature of his innings was the fact that he timed the ball quite well. He placed the ball in gaps for singles and struck a lot of boundaries. He played some lovely drives and cuts in his innings of 138 not out, and did not allow the bowlers to settle
in.
He was well supported by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424, who is having a wonderful time with the bat, and added 116 runs with him for the third wicket. Kohli was again in a supreme touch as he made 64 runs from 73 balls and struck 8 boundaries.
India were constantly ahead in the run rate department and maintained the required run rate. In the 36th over, New Zealand got the second Indian wicket, when Kohli was dismissed off the bowling of McKay. It came too late for the kiwis, as the
remaining runs were easily made by Yuvraj and Gambhir. India reached the target in 43rd over with 7 overs to spare. Apart from McCullum and Vettori, all the kiwi bowlers failed to keep the Indian batsmen under pressure. Gautam Gambhir, for his
prolific batting, was named man of the match.
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