IND Vs NZ 1st ODI Review: The first one-day international match of the three-match series between India and New Zealand was played in Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium yesterday, i.e. Wednesday, 18th January 2023.
The men in blue side won the toss and elected to bat first. The Indian openers, Rohit and Gill got a decent start. But they couldn’t kick on.
The openers added 60 runs for the opening wicket in 12.1 overs. However, the Kiwis fought back after the opening stand and India had no significant partnerships after that.
It was only Shubman Gill, who played like an absolute genius and his knock of 208 runs allowed the Blues to post a decent score on the board.
New Zealand had to chase 350 runs to win the first one-day international match of this three-match series.
Their batters also faltered in that run chase and it looked like India would win the 1st ODI match quite easily.
The Kiwis were reeling at 131 for the loss of six wickets and that’s when they fought back brilliantly.
Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner had put a mammoth partnership to keep their team in the hunt. Bracewell was the one who took on the likes of Shami, Washington Sundar, Hardik and Kuldeep.
He batted till the last over of the New Zealand innings. While Santner provided brilliant support. Bracewell scored 140 runs and Santner scored 57 runs. Still, New Zealand fell 12 runs short of the target.
Today let us see the top four performers of the first one-day international match between India and New Zealand before the second ODI starts on Saturday, 21st January 2023 at Raipur.
Shubman Gill played like a King in the first 1st ODI at Hyderabad. Gill was slow to start. However, he stayed till the last over to ensure that India scored enough runs on the board.
Gill’s batting took the Kiwis by storm and even the wickets falling at the other end didn’t stop him. He scored thousands of runs in lesser ODI innings and also became the youngest player to smash an ODI double ton.
Shubman also broke Sachin Tendulkar's record. Gill scored the highest individual score against New Zealand in the fifty-overs format.
He has joined the list of the greats who have scored a double century in ODI Cricket. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan are the previous batters to achieve this feat.
New Zealand would have set themselves up for a stunning victory. Unfortunately, they fell short by 12 runs. However, their fightback was incredible because of a special inning from Michael Bracewell.
The visitors were reeling at 131 runs for the loss of six wickets and looked certain that India would win this match by a bigger margin.
Bracewell scored a counter-attacking 140 runs from just 78 balls to keep the Black Caps side in the hunt. He had threatened the Indian bowlers and the captain to take the game away.
But it was Shardul Thakur who took his wicket and allowed India to go one nil up in the three-match one-day international series.
The spin bowling all-rounder from the Kiwis team did a wonderful job in the first one-day all-around international match.
Santner is an experienced spin bowler and used the conditions quite well when India was batting. Mitch was the economical bowler from the New Zealand camp.
He also picked up the vital wicket of the in-form batter, Virat Kohli. With the bat, Santner provided wonderful support to Bracewell in that partnership. He scored 57 runs with the bat as well.
The fast bowler was playing on his home ground in yesterday’s match. Siraj has been in terrific form with the ball and continued that even when Bracewell and Santner were going strong.
He was the one who started the possession of wickets and even broke the dangerous and threatening partnership between Bracewell and Santner.
Siraj took the vital wicket of Mitch Santner and opened the game for the men in blue side.
Overall he took four wickets in the match and Siraj has picked up a four-wicket haul in two back-to-back ODI matches till now.
