IND vs NZ, 3rd ODI: Tonful Rohit-Gill show hands India clean sweep and No.1 ODI ranking; Twitter rejoices
IND vs NZ: India gave New Zealand a hard time, winning the final Indore ODI by 90 runs, thus registering a clean sweep and gaining the number one ODI spot. Ton-men Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill played substantial roles, as Twitter rejoices.
FollowTeam India had a grand day on Tuesday in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. In a high-scoring encounter, the hosts prevailed, securing a 90-run win. Consequently, the Men in Blue registered a 3-0 clean sweep and became the new number one ODI side, displacing the visitors. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill played a starry role by scoring respective centuries. At the same time, the Indian bowlers did their part, especially pacer Shardul Thakur and chinaman wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, with their three-for. Meanwhile, Twitter rejoiced with this emphatic series success.
Winning the toss, Kiwi skipper Tom Latham opted to field while the Indians made a couple of changes to their playing XI. The hosts were off to a majestic start, with the openers putting on a 212-run stand. Rohit slammed his 30th ODI ton before falling to off-spinner Michael Bracewell in the 27th, who knocked him over.
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During this time, Gill also struck his fourth ODI century. However, he too could not last long post the ton, falling to pacer Blair Tickner in the 35th, as the score read 268/3. India lost some quick wickets thereon and was down to 313/6. However, Hardik Pandya (54) and Thakur (25) added 54 for the seventh wicket before the latter fell to Tickner in the 48th.
In the following over, at 379, Pandya departed to pacer Jacob Duffy after hitting his eighth half-century, while the Indians finished on 385/9. For New Zealand, Duffy and Tickner snared three each, while pacer Lockie Ferguson was economical. In reply, the Kiwis lost Finn Allen (0) in the opening over after playing on to pacer Pandya with no runs on the board.
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Nevertheless, Devon Conway (138) and Henry Nicholls (42) put on 106 for the second wicket before the latter was trapped leg-before by Kuldeep in the 15th. A 78-run stand ensued between Conway and Daryl Mitchell (24), while the latter fell to Thakur in the 26th at 184. However, the Kiwis began losing regular wickets thereon.
Although Conway scored his second ODI ton, he was the sixth wicket to fall to pacer Umran Malik in the 32nd, at 230. While NZ gave it all to fight back and edge closer, the target was too big to be attained, as it was bowled out for 295 by the 42nd. While Thakur and Kuldeep were on target, considering India's bowling, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also gets the credit for being economical.
Brief scores: IND 389/5 (Rohit- 101, Gill- 112, Pandya- 54; Tickner- 3/76) defeated NZ 295 in 41.2 overs (Conway- 138, Thakur- 3/45) by 90 runs.
