http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 by 9 wickets in the third match of the five match series to win the series after taking an unassailable lead of 3-0.
Before the match New Zealand would have looked to win this match to stay alive in this series but India made sure not to give any easy chance to New Zealand. New Zealand was put into bat first after India won the toss. The visitors would have liked to get
a start but the Indian bowlers showed no mercy at all to the visitors.
The black caps kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and it seemed at one stage that they wouldn’t be able to bat the complete overs. However, there was some resistance from the lower middle order which helped the New Zealand team to post a modest
total and they gave their bowlers something to defend.
Once the New Zealand team was put into bat, the batsmen were low on confidence and couldn’t do anything extraordinary for their team to help them save the series. The return of Brendon McCullum didn’t help New Zealand much. The opening batsman fell on the
very first ball he faced off Zaheer Khan while Martin Guptill got run out on 12 by Gambhir.
After the wicket of Guptill, none of the top order batsmen were able to bat for a longer period. Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 got out after adding just four runs to the total. Kane Williamson and Scott Styris got starts but were unable to capitalise on them. They got out
for 21 and 22 respectively. After Vettori and Hopkins fell, it was 106 for seven wickets down in the 30th over of the innings.
It was James Franklin who held the innings together and managed a partnership with Nathan McCullum to rescue the New Zealand team from crisis. Franklin and McCullum scored a 94-run partnership before McCullum got out in the 48th over. Franklin
scored an unbeaten 72 runs and Nathan McCullum missed out on a half century by scoring 43 runs from 53 balls. At the end of the innings, New Zealand managed 224 runs and would have expected to cause some problems to the Indian batsmen when they came out to
bat.
The Indian bowlers did a great job by not allowing New Zealand to post a big total. Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers by grabbing a couple of early wickets. He was well supported by the spinners as Ashwin and Yusuf Pathan took two wickets each.
The wicket seemed to be a batting paradise when the Indian openers walked in. Gambhir continued his brilliant form and scored yet another century for his team to confirm a comprehensive victory for his team. The only wicket to fall was of the opening batsman
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 then made it look easier and crushed the New Zealand bowlers. The chase was completed in the 40th
over. Captain Gambhir remained unbeaten on 126 whereas Vijay also remained unbeaten on 63. The nine wicket win meant that India sealed the series 3-0 and the hosts would now look for a whitewash over the visiting team.
The New Zealand bowlers were wicket-less and struggled just as their batsmen did. They would now be looking to avoid a whitewash and win the remaining two matches for pride. The Indian team would be happy with the players performing exceptionally well. They
would like to keep the pressure on the New Zealand team and keep dominating the visitors in the remaining matches.
Tags: