The ease with which New Zealand defeated India in the second ODI in Rajkot and prevented the host team from experimenting with its combination in the third and final game on Sunday, according to former captain Sunil Gavaskar, astonished him.
As the visitors chased a 285-run target with seven wickets remaining, Daryl Mitchell’s undefeated 131-run innings propelled New Zealand to a series-leveling victory in the second ODI in Rajkot. Indore will host the series-deciding match.
“I was surprised by how easily New Zealand got across the line because, before they started batting, everyone thought India would be able to make use of the slowness of the pitch,” a PTI report quoted Gavaskar as saying on JioHotstar.
“With their (New Zealand) bowlers, not just the spinners, but all of them, using the slowness of the surface well, it felt like India would be able to restrict New Zealand to around 260 or 270. I thought that would have been an easy win for India,” he said.
Mitchell and Will Young (87) put together a 162-run partnership that snatched the game away from India with such poise that Gavaskar was full of praise.
“I think they showed how a near-300 run total can be chased down, by taking your time to settle in and then backing your stroke-making ability and running between the wickets,” Gavaskar said.
India will be under pressure in the series finale, according to Gavaskar, and they won’t have the leeway to try players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who might have played in the Indore match if the series had been decided.
“…had they won this game, they would have had the freedom to experiment a little, perhaps giving opportunities to those who haven’t played so far. Someone like Jaiswal could have gotten a bit of a run as well. All of that might have been possible. But now they can’t take any chances. They have to play their best eleven again.”
Mitchell’s knock and the way he played India’s spin combo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja were praised by former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull. Jadeja gave up 44 runs without a wicket in his eight overs, while Kuldeep went for 82 runs in his ten overs while taking just one wicket.
“Mitchell’s got some very good numbers against India…We see it time and again, the reverse sweeps, using his feet. Very early on against Kuldeep, he came down the wicket and put him under pressure in his first over. From that moment, Kuldeep lost his length slightly, which doesn’t happen often.
“Even against Jadeja, he played him really well. The fact that he can come down the pitch, use his feet, hit over the top, or stay aggressive and play shots on both sides of the ground, with the reverse sweeps, the back-foot shots, everything in his armoury, shows his confidence,” he said.
Doull concurred with Gavaskar that the hosts will be the ones under pressure in the final.
“Of the two sides, New Zealand are the one not under pressure going into the final game. India generally respond pretty well to pressure; they still have key players in the side, and they know how to handle these situations,” he said, striking a more optimistic note.
“They understand how to win game three or game five of a series when it’s all levelled up. But New Zealand have nothing to lose. They have never won an ODI series in this country, so this would be a good time to start,” he added.
