In Raipur’s Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium’s inaugural international match, India’s quick bowlers raced through New Zealand, bowling them out for 108 in under 35 overs with a combination of precision, swing, bounce, and two caught and bowled dismissals.
The early damage was done with the new ball by Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, who reduced New Zealand to 9 for 3 in 6.1 overs. After 10.3 overs, New Zealand was reeling at 15 for 5, their top five batters falling in single figures, thanks to consecutive strikes from Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur.
For his first wicket, Hardik caught and bowled opening batsman Devon Conway in. Hardik did an excellent job of fielding the ball, and the video of his successful effort has now gone viral on social media.
Here’s the video shared by BCCI:
When Hardik was brought into the fray with the fourth ball of the tenth over. He displayed a fabulous fielding effort. Conway decided to play a shot on the fourth dot ball after playing the first three. However, all he could do was return the ball to Hardik, who completed a superb catch with his left hand to put an end to Conway’s time at the crease. Conway could not believe his eyes as he was caught out by Hardik on his bowling.
The Kiwis were in trouble at 15 for 4 in 9.4 overs when Conway was dismissed, and it rapidly changed to 15 for 5 in 10.3 overs when Shardul joined the fray by dismissing Kiwi stand-in skipper Tom Latham (1). Shubman Gill, who had previously finished the catch of Nicholls as well, caught the left-handed batter, who is leading the Kiwis in the absence of Kane Williamson, at the slip.
The Kiwis lost the first game of the series by 12 runs on Wednesday (January 18) in Hyderabad, and they must win the current second ODI to keep the match alive.
Currently, the Indian side is cruising towards a comfortable victory by the opening batters Shubman Gill and skipper Rohit Sharma.
