Rohit Sharma along with Shikar Dhawan gave India a brilliant start of 154 runs. Source

The New Zealand inning never really took off when they set out to chase the target of 325 runs that India had set them. They kept losing wickets regularly and their highest partnership of 54 runs between Bracewell and Fergusson came for the ninth wicket. By that time the asking rate was so high that they had already lost the match.

India’s inning took off to a lucky start as Rohit Sharma chased the first ball from Trent Boult outside the off stump and edged it past a diving wicketkeeper to fine third man for four Runs. After that, there were no more hiccups as the two openers started scoring runs freely off the New Zealand bowlers. They hoisted their 14th hundred run partnership in ODIs in the eighteenth over. India was going well and scoring at more than six runs per over when Dhawan decided to throw the kitchen sink at a Boult delivery well outside the off stump. The result was that the wicketkeeper Latham took a good catch and Dhawan was out with India on 154 runs.

Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayadu put together a 64 run stand for India Source

Rohit Sharma was the next to go 18 runs later. He could not control a pull shot and Colin de Grandhomme took a good catch to give Fergusson his first wicket. Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayadu took the score to 236 runs still scoring at a rate of six runs per over when Kohli was dismissed by a catch By Sodhi to a miss cued shot at fine leg. Six overs later, Ambati Rayadu was caught and bowled by Fergusson again off a miscued pull shot. India was on 271 runs for the loss of four wickets when Kedar Jadhav joined Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the wicket.

The two batsmen played the last 26 balls of the Inning adding 53 runs to the Indian inning. In fact, 21 of those runs came in the fiftieth over with Jadhav scoring 15 of them. Though India started well the middle order did not look like they were going to deliver on the good work by the openers. But Dhoni and Jadhav set things right in the final over to get India to a total of 324 runs. It was good total setting a target of 325 for New Zealand at the asking rate of 6.5 runs for over.

Indians celebrate upon dismissing Kane Williamson Source

The wickets falling at regular intervals led to the asking rate rising all the while bringing further pressure on the Kiwi batsmen. The first to go was Martin Guptill when the score was on 23. Guptill tried to play a short ball from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar in the air and Yazuvendra Chahal took a very good catch on the boundary. Soon after that Kane Williamson decided to go after Mohammed Shami. After scoring 18 runs off the first four short balls from a Shami over, he dragged the next ball outside the off stump on to his wicket.

Yazuvendra Chahal dismissed Collin Munroe lbw for 31 runs when the latter tries to switch-hit a ball from the bowler. New Zealand was on 100 runs when they lost their fourth wicket in the form of Ross Taylor. Taylor was beaten by a ball that drifted away from him and Dhoni effected a smart stumping to give Kedar Jadhav his first wicket. Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls then put together 34 runs. Tom Latham was trapped lbw by Kuldeep Yadav by a faster ball which had the batsman in a tangle in front of the wicket. The New Zealand inning never recovered from there on with Kuldeep Yadav dismissing Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme off successive deliveries.

Yazuvendra Chahal congratulates Kuldeep Yadav on getting four wickets in the match Source

Doug Bracewell played a brave inning scoring 54 runs and adding 59 runs to the Australian take the total to 224 runs when his wicket fell Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Intending to drive the ball over long-on the ball caught the toe end of the bat and went straight to Dhawan. Chahal cleaned up the New Zealand inning when he had Fergusson caught by Vijay Shankar at long on. Giving India a victory by 90 runs.