Indian Cricket
New Zealand today again were swept away by India at Chennai. The Kiwis seem to have struck by some evil spirit. This was the second series in succession for them when they are clean swept. Before, by the minnows-Bangladesh and now India. All seems to be wrong for them: The team combination, the low level of confidence, the body language of the players and the poor form of players. The bad streak continued today as India dominantly bowled down the Kiwis for a meager total of 103 and later chased it losing just 2 wickets.
Indian bowlers bowled superbly today as together they took 7 wickets conceding just 40 runs in the 13 overs they bowled. The pacers Nehra and Kumar earlier had already provided India three new-ball strikes. The kiwis never looked to trouble the scorers. They kept losing wickets in quick succession. The highest stand was between How and Styris for the 4th wicket when they parted for a 43 runs. Styris was the top-scorer of the Kiwi’s 27 over innings. He contributed 24 runs to the total of 103. The NZ tail was also easily removed causing no problems for the Indian bowlers. Ashwin took 3 wickets for 24 runs in the 8 overs he bowled. Yuvi, Pathan and Nehra got two wickets each, and Kumar too got a piece.
The two Delhi studs didn’t have a good day with the bat. They dominated the score chart for the first three matches. But, today Gambhir was dismissed for a duck and Kohli also departed for just 2 runs. The umpires Amish Saheba and Richar Kettleborough have been through a rough patch. They have been less perfect with their decisions. Gambhir was given caught behind wrongly as a straightforward LBW of Parthiv was denied.
Parthiv and Yuvraj sealed victory for India. They steadied the Indian innings parting for 97 runs. They completed the target in 21.1 overs. Yuvraj contributed 42 as Patel went on to make his second consecutive half-century: he made 56 runs off 70 balls. Parthiv has made a good use of the opportunity and must be considered in further tour selections of the team.
Yuvraj Singh for his all-round performance was awarded the man of the match as the Indian standing captain Gambhir was felicitated with the man of the series trophy. It was a short yet highly successful streak of Gambhir as a captain and he performed really well: made two back to back centuries.
This 5-0 series win for India was only the second time India has won an ODI series. The only previous instance was against England in 2008-09. And Asish Nehra also completed 150 ODI wickets today. He is the 11th Indian bowler to have done so. With such a gargantuan win, India would be a great frame of mind for the coming series against South Africa.
Tags: Chennai, Cricket, Gautam Gambhir, India, Kiwis, New Zealand, ODI Match, ODI Series, Yuvraj Singh
