Caught just short

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 20

For the first time on their tough India tour, New Zealand saw an opening. They sensed a much-needed, morale-boosting win to snap their losing streak stretching over a month. But they threw away the advantage twice — first, they almost undid the good work of their skipper Kane Williamson, who scored a brilliant 118, when they lost six wickets for just 40 runs in the death overs; and then they seemed to have given up when Hardik Pandya and Umesh Yadav threatened to take India past the finish line.

Eventually, though, the Kiwis held their nerves and eked out a thrilling six-run win to level the five-match series 1-1. This was New Zealand's first win on the tour and it came on the back of Williamson's maiden century against India and some fine bowling effort by the pace duo of Tim Southee (3/52) and Trent Boult (2/25). Part-time off-break bowler Martin Guptill (2/6) too played a significant role by picking up two wickets in one over at a crucial juncture. For the record, this was New Zealand's first win over India in India since 2003.

Chasing 243 to win, India were stuttering at 183/8 when Pandya (36) and Yadav (18) joined forces. They stitched a crucial 49-run partnership for the ninth wicket, taking India to the threshold of victory. However, with just 10 runs required, Pandya was caught at the sweeper boundary by Mitchell Santner off Boult in the penultimate over. Southee then cleaned up Jasprit Bumrah with a perfect yorker on the third ball of the final over to hand his team a sensational win.

None of the top Indian batsmen could contribute significantly as Rohit Sharma (15), Virat Kohli (9) and Ajinkya Rahane (28) fell to some fine bowling. With India tottering at 73/4, Dhoni, coming in at No. 5, forged two crucial partnerships to put India's chase back on track. He first added 66 runs with Kedar Jadhav (41) for the fifth wicket, and then 33 runs for the sixth wicket with Axar Patel (17). 

The stage was tailor-made for Dhoni to finish the job and put an end to the question marks over his finishing abilities. He was setting up the chase nicely — looking for quick ones and twos and hitting the occasional boundaries. But he got out against the run of play, Southee diving to take a low catch off his own bowling. Dhoni scored a 65-ball 39 under trying circumstances and his dismissal led to a mini lower-order collapse as Patel and Amit Mishra (1) departed in quick succession, falling to Guptill in one over.

Earlier, Williamson became the first New Zealander to score a century on this tour. Williamson and opener Tom Latham (46) laid down a solid platform for a big total with their 120-run partnership for the second wicket. The visitors were looking good at 202/3 in 40 overs, with Williamson and Corey Anderson (21) all set to launch the final assault. But brilliant death-over bowling by Bumrah (3/35) and Mishra (3/60) restricted New Zealand to 242/9.

Scoreboard

New Zealand 

M Guptill b Yadav 0

T Latham lbw b Jadhav 46

K Williamson c Rahane b Mishra 118 

R Taylor c Sharma b Mishra 21

C Anderson lbw b Mishra 21

L Ronchi c Dhoni b Patel 6

M Santner not out 9

A Devcich c Patel b Bumrah 7

T Southee b Bumrah 0

M Henry b Bumrah 6

T Boult not out 5 

Extras: (w 3) 3 

Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 242 

FOW:- 1-0, 2-120, 3-158, 4-204, 5-213, 6-216, 7-224, 8-225, 9-237

Bowling

U Yadav 9-0-42-1

H Pandya 9-0-45-0

J Bumrah 10-0-35-3

A Patel 10 -0-49 -1

A Mishra 10-0-60-3

K Jadhav 2-0-11-1

India

R Sharma c Ronchi b Boult 15

A Rahane c Anderson b Southee 28

V Kohli c Ronchi b Santner 9

M Pandey run out 19

MS Dhoni c & b Southee 39

K Jadhav c Ronchi b Henry 41 

A Patel c Santner b Guptill 17 

H Pandya c Santner b Boult 36 

A Mishra c sub (Bracewell) b Guptill 1 

U Yadav not out 18 

J Bumrah b Southee 0

Extras: (lb 5, w 8) 13 

Total (all out; 49.3 overs) 236 

FOW:- 1-21, 2-40, 3-72, 4-73, 5-139, 6-172, 7-180, 8-183, 9-232, 10-236 

Bowling

M Henry 10-0-51-1

T Boult 10-2 -25-2

T Southee 9.3-0-52-3

A Devcich 9-0-48-0

M Santner 10-0-49-1 

M Guptill 1-0 -6 -2