The India vs New Zealand 1st ODI match played at Hyderabad was won by India by 12 runs after a hard-fought battle against the lone warrior from the opposition camp, Michael Bracewell. Bracewell, the Kiwi all-rounder, played a blinder of an innings to keep India on their toes till the final over of the match. Eventually, the Indian bowlers prevailed in the high-scoring encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Shubman Gill was declared the player of the match for his astonishing innings of 208.
Opting to bat first after winning the toss, India skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill started well. Rohit was the major enforcer in the opening partnership and played some of his favorite shots against the inexperienced Kiwi new-ball bowling attack. He was the first to perish while Gill took his time to consolidate. Kohli followed his skipper shortly after being squared up by a brilliant Santner delivery. Gill stitched up 2 consecutive 50-run partnerships with Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya to lend some stability to the scorecard. But, after their dismissal, it was a one-man show.
Gill brought his maiden double century with 3 consecutive sixes of Lockie Ferguson in the 48th over. He stitched a handy 42-run 8th-wicket partnership with Kuldeep Yadav to push India across an above-par score of 349 for 8. Shipley and Daryl Mitchell snared up 2 wickets amongst themselves while Ferguson, Tickner and Santner picked up a wicket each.
The New Zealand chase went off-steam by some magnificent opening bowling from the Indians. The bowlers kept picking up wickets to reduce the Kiwis to 131 for 6 in the 29th over. But, when everyone thought the match was over, in came the duo of Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell. They put together 162 runs between themselves in 17 overs to keep their team in the hunt. After Santner’s dismissal, Bracewell tried his best to win the match for his team single-handedly but eventually fell short by 12 runs.
Mohammad Siraj was again the pick of the bowlers for the second consecutive match and finished with 4 for 46 from his 10 overs. Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur picked up 2 wickets each while the remaining wickets were shared by Shami and Hardik.
The 2nd ODI of the series will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur.