Gautam Gambhir
Vadodara: Captain Gautam Gambhir was unbeaten on 126,his second consecutive century, to power India to a series-clinching 9 wicket victory over New Zealand in the third ODI of the 5-ODI series here today.
The left handed aggressive opener from Delhi played a captain’s knock as India easily got to the score of 225 in 39.3 overs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 5 ODI match series. Gauti, who hit 16 boundaries with the flick of his wrist and classy cover drives in the 117 ball innings of his, put on 115 runs for the 1st wicket with Murali Vijay who scored just 30 in 50 balls before being run out.
The foundation laid by Gambhir, who got his 9th ODI ton, with Vijay was then supported at the other end by Virat Kohli, who continued his form from where he left in the previous two matches. Kohli too remained unbeaten on 63 in 70 balls with 6 boundaries and 2 sixes. He also hit the winning runs, a six over long on.
The way in which the Gambhir played his strokes blew away any hopes of New Zealand to make a come back into the match putting up a modest score on the board when conditions were very much in favour of the bowlers. For the Kiwis, James Franklin, handled the innings with an unbeaten half century and helped the visitors recover from a poor start to post a small yet fighting score.
The visitors made a disastrous start by losing both their openers in less than 5 overs and were struggling at 106/7 before Franklin and Nathan McCullum staged the recovery act with a partnership of 94. Franklin was the top scorer for New Zealand with the help of 5 fours and a six in 108 balls while McCullum made 43.
Apart from the 8th wicket duo, only opener Martin Guptill with 12 runs and Scott Styris with 22 managed to score in double digits in a very poor display of batting put up by the Kiwis after they were asked to bat first by the hosts. For India, Zaheer Khan Yusuf Pathan and R Ashwin took 2 wickets each while Munaf Patel got one scalp.
New Zealand batsmen had played on low bouncing tracks after coming to India in early November. But today, were undone by the extra bounce. Zaheer Khan utilized the bounce to the fullest extent in his awesome first spell of 7 overs as he destroyed the Kiwi top order early on. Munaf bowled tightly to return with one for 28 while spinners Yusuf Pathan and Ashwin contributed their part in the middle overs to claim 27/2 and 49/2 respectively.
Tags: Cricket, Gautam Gambhir, India, New Zealand, ODI Match, ODI Series, Sports, Vadodara, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan
