NZ beat India by 4 wickets in 1st ODI, Taylor & Iyer hit tons

Speed Post News Network

Patna : New Zealand (NZ) beat India by 4 wickets in the 1st ODI at Seddon Park, Hamilton, NZ, with Ross Taylor scoring an unbeaten 109 in 84 balls hitting 10 fours and 4 sixes, his 21st ODI ton, 3rd against India, opener Henry Nicholls scoring 78  in 82 balls with 11 fours, and captain Tom Latham (wk) scoring 69 in 48 balls hitting 8 fours and 2 sixes. NZ has now taken 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. Ross Taylor was declared Player of the Match. NZ had won the toss but opted to bowl.

Chasing a target of 348 runs, NZ scored  348/6 in 48.1 overs with 11 balls to spare. India bowlers were very unimpressive in the match and were sent on leather hunt. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah bowled too many wide balls. Kuldeep Yadav took 2/84 in 10 overs while Mohammad Shami took 1/63 in 9.1 overs. Fast bowler Shardul Thakur took 1/80 in 9 overs. Bumrah and Jadeja did not get any wicket but leaked 53 and 64 runs respectively.

Chasing the target, NZ made a solid start with openers Martin Guptil and Henry Nicholls added 85 runs for the 1st wicket. Guptil fell to Shardul Thakur for 32 in 41 balls with 2 fours making it 85/1.Tom Blundell fell to spinner Kuldeep Yadav for 9 making it 109/2. Nicholls and Ross Taylor added 62 runs for the 3rd wicket. Nicholls was run out 78 and it was 171/3.

Taylor and captain Tom Latham then added 138 runs for the 4th wicket, a match winning stand. Taylor and Lathan hit  Shardul Thakur for 22 runs in his 8th over, the 40th of the innings. Taylor hit him for a six and 2 fours on successive balls in that over while Lathm hit a six on the second ball of the over.

Latham fell to Kuldeep Yadav for 69 and it was 309/4. James Neesham fell to fast bowler Mohammad Shami for 9 making it 328/5. All-rounder Colin de Grandhomme was run out for 1 and it was 331/6. Spinner Mitchell Santner hit fast bowler Shardul Thakur for a six and a four in his 9th over, the 48th of the innings.

Batting first  India scored a challenging 347/4 with Shreyas Iyer scoring 103 in 107 balls with 11 fours and a six, his first ODI ton, and Lokesh Rahul scoring an unbeaten 88 in 64 balls with 3 fours and 6 sixes. Captain Kohli scored 51 in 63 balls with 6 fours while openers Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw scored 32. and 20 runs respectively. Kedar Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26 in 15 balls with 3 fours and a six.