http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 made a remarkable century to guide his side to a comfortable victory in the first One day match against New Zealand.
It was yet another splendid batting display by this talented batsman as he was quite confident in his knock of 105. Batting first, India made 276 runs, with Kohli and Yuvraj Singh being the prominent batsmen for them. In the end, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 found it difficult
to match the run rate of the Indians and were all dismissed for 236.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gautam-Gambhir-c58623 opened the innings for India. Both the openers were not that aggressive in the first few overs, but after some overs they started playing with more freedom and liberty.
Vijay started playing the bowlers with confidence and struck 5 boundaries off them. He played some impressive shots through mid wicket and also drove the ball whenever he got the opportunity. At the score of 29, Vijay was dismissed of the bowling of Tuffey
when he was caught by the wicket keeper Hopkins.
Gambhir made a run a ball 38 and also struck 6 boundaries. He was dismissed for 38, when he reached a wide ball from McKay and gave an easy catch at point. Yuvraj Singh was the next batsman for India. He had a slow start to his innings but after some overs
he started to play more aggressively and struck some impressive boundaries. He struck 5 boundaries off McCullum and. After playing a handy knock of 42, he was dismissed by Tuffey, when he went for a drive that took an edge to the keeper.
Both, Yuvraj and Kohli added a 88-run partnership for the third wicket and provided the Indians with a stable foundation in the middle. Kohli was again the star performer for the Indians as he played with a lot of maturity and responsibility. He was intelligent
enough to build his innings in the middle and placed the ball in gaps for singles. The feature of his innings was the fact that he didn’t play that aggressively and managed a lot of singles in his innings of 105. He struck 10 boundaries and scored runs whenever
he got the opportunity.
India maintained a run rate of around 5.30 throughout their innings, and were consistent in their approach. Kohli along with Raina contributed 40 runs for the 4th wicket before Raina was dismissed off the bowling of Mills.
India were able to add momentum to their innings up to 250 runs before Kohli was dismissed of the bowling of McKay, when he was caught at cover position by How.
After Kohli’s dismissal, India found it hard to accelerate the run rate and began losing quick wickets in the last overs. Saha, Ashwin and Nehra did not add much to the total and were all dismissed for low scores. India lost 3 quick wickets when their score
was in the range of 250 and their run rate also dropped during the last 10 overs. Yousaf Pathan provided some fireworks for India in the last overs and struck some impressive boundaries. All his boundaries, including a six, came off the bowling of McKay. He
played a quick knock of 29 from 19 balls with 3 fours and 1 six at mid wicket. He was dismissed off http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915.
India were 275-9 in the 48th over, and after Pathan’s dismissal they were in danger of not playing their last over. Mills again struck for New Zealand in the same over when he dismissed Sreesanth for 4 runs, ending the Indian total on 276.
For New Zealand, Mckay picked 4 wickets but he was expensive in his spell. Mills was economical in his 10 overs and picked 3 wickets including the wickets of Raina and Pathan. Overall it was a good total by the Indians, but they definitely would have felt
that they were 20-30 runs short.
New Zealand, in response to India’s total, started their innings without losing any wicket in first 5 overs. New Zealand lost its first wicket on 32, when http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JM-How-c1707 was caught at short mid wicket by Vijay of the bowling of Nehra.
Guptill was playing well before he was done in flight by Ashwin and was caught at long off by Munaf Patel. He made 30 runs from 37 balls and struck 6 boundaries.
As the overs went by, India started to control the run rate per over and managed to bowl much tightly. For New Zealand, an important partnership developed between Williamson and Taylor, who added 67 runs for the third wicket. Taylor was the main contributor
in the partnership as he added 47 runs in the partnership.
He started slowly in his innings, but after spending some time at the crease he began to score more freely. At the score of 113, the third wicket fell for New Zealand when Williamson (25) was dismissed off the bowling of Yuvraj. Scott Styris didn’t last
long, and was dismissed of the bowling Yuvraj Singh for 10.
Wickets started to fall quickly for New Zealand, as Ashwin and Yuvraj bowled a quality spell and also kept the run rate down. Taylor played well for his 66 and struck 3 fours and 3 sixes. In the 33rd over, Taylor was dismissed off the bowling
of Ashwin, when he went for a big swing and was caught by Patel.
New Zealand at that time were 157-7 and a defeat was inevitable for them but a glimmer of hope came from their tail-enders, when Mills and McCullum added 67 runs for the 9th wicket and took New Zealand’s total near to India’s. In the end it was
too much to ask from the tail-enders who were required to make 8 runs per over. India managed to dismiss the New Zealand side for 236 in the 46th over.
For India, Ashwin and Yuvraj managed 3 wickets each and bowled well for India. Sreesanth also took three wickets including two of the tail-enders. It was a comfortable victory for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, who are currently having a good time in One day format. Virat Kohli,
for his wonderful hundred, was named man of the match.
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