Gritty Gambhir tonks 2nd Consecutive ton to lead India to series win over New Zealand
Stand-in Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 blasted his second successive hundred as he leads his team to a crushing 9-wicket win which gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match ODI series against New Zealand.
The third match of the series was played at the Reliance stadium in Vadodara and the Indians dominated it from the outset before Gambhir sealed the deal with a brilliant unbeaten hundred to follow a similar effort in the second ODI played at Jaipur.
After his match winning effort the left hander claimed that he had always given his cent percent while playing for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, and would continue doing so whether he was the captain or not.
"As a player or a captain I have always given 100%. Captaincy has not changed my batting," he said. "I am striking the ball well and would have batted like this under any captain."
He hit a total of 16 fours in his innings of 126 runs that came off a mere 117 balls, the New Zealand bowlers who had failed to contain him in the Jaipur ODI were clueless once again as they kept feeding him in his favourite scoring areas outside the off-stump.
The Southpaw did not mind it one bit as he unleashed one delightful boundary after another adding to the frustration of the opposing captain Daniel Vettori who had had an abysmal time with his team in the lead-up to the World Cup.
The Black Caps have lost 8 consecutive ODIs and four of them have come against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in one series.
The win for the Indians was set up by an impressive bowling performance led by Zaheer Khan and a pack of young upcoming spinners, Gambhir has special praise for his spearhead calling him the best left arm fast bowler in present cricket.
"[Zaheer Khan] is the best left-arm fast bowler in the world now. [Ravichandran] Ashwin has a lot of variety and can bowl well during Power Plays and the slog overs. If he keeps doing that he will be a big asset to the team. Munaf [Patel] bowled great at
first change. It's tough to get figures of 1 for 28 in 10 overs on a subcontinent wicket. Yusuf [Pathan] contributed with the ball, as well."
"There was still a bit of dampness out there and we wanted to take wickets as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mills-c76321 coming in at number 10."
Gambhir was also impressed by the competition for places in the Indian ranks and felt that the national selectors are spoiled for choices as they trim down a suitable squad for next year’s World Cup that is set to take place in the Indian sub-continents.
"It's good to have competitions for various places. If the selectors have a headache in this aspect, it's a very good sign for Indian cricket,"
“We should try and put our best team on the park as it is an international game and we are playing a quality side."
The series has been a one-sided affair thus far and would be a thorough disappointment for Vettori and his team who had hoped to but in a better show and win at least two out of the five games if not the series. Their batting has let them down on each of
the three occasions, whilst the bowlers have been very ordinary also.
There is hardly any time left for them to figure out their 15 for the premier ODI tournament next year, their last chance is a six match ODI series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at home and the Black Caps have many areas of concern that need to be addressed in that encounter.
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