Rajkot14 January. A century duel was witnessed between two stars at the newly built Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Wednesday. But in this battle, the efforts of KL Rahul (112 not out, 92 balls, one six, 11 fours) were thwarted by Daryl Mitchell (131 not out, 117 balls, two sixes, 11 fours) and on the basis of his valuable century partnership for the third wicket with Will Young (87 runs, 98 balls, seven fours), New Zealand won the match in 15 balls in the second ODI. India were defeated by seven wickets with 10 runs remaining. With this, the guests leveled the three-match series at 1-1.

In the latest ICC ODI rankings today, Virat Kohli (23 runs, 29 balls, two fours), who once again achieved the number one position after almost three years, and Rohit Sharma (24 runs, 38 balls, four fours), who lost the top position and slipped to third place, may not have been able to go far. But Team India, forced to bat first, had scored a strong score of 284 runs for seven wickets with the help of Rahul’s eighth century and captain Shubman Gill’s attractive fifty (56 runs, 53 balls, one six, nine fours).

Valuable partnership of 162 runs for the third wicket between Mitchell and Young

In retaliation, India had also removed two wickets of the guests within 46 runs. But as the evening approached, the pitch intensified amidst the cold. What happened next, ‘Player of the Match’ Mitchell mainly targeted spinner Kuldeep Yadav (1-82) and his valuable century partnership of 162 runs in 152 balls for the third wicket with Will Young resulted in the Kiwis achieving a resounding victory by scoring 286 runs for three wickets in 47.3 overs.

New Zealand’s streak of 8 consecutive defeats against India also broken

The interesting aspect of this impressive victory of New Zealand due to the bravery of Mitchell and Young, who scored the eighth century of their ODI career, was that their team was not only successful in chasing the biggest target in India but also ended its streak of eight consecutive defeats against India. Now the stage will be set for the decisive match on January 18 (Sunday) in high-scoring Indore.

Indian spin attack fails again

India’s defeat in this match once again exposed the problem with which Team India has been struggling in Test cricket for the last two years. The problem is that even in home conditions, the Indian spin attack is vulnerable to the spinners of the visiting team.

It can be easily guessed that debutant left arm spinner Jaden Lennox kept excellent control over the Indian batsmen and took one wicket for 42 runs in 10 overs. Whereas Kuldeep Yadav (10 overs, 82 runs, one wicket) and Ravindra Jadeja (44 runs in eight overs) gave away 126 runs in 18 overs. Whereas the Kiwi spinners spent only 89 runs in 23 overs.

Match winning partnership of 78 runs between Mitchell and Phillips

However, Kuldeep broke the third wicket partnership (3-208) by dismissing Young and soon after Mohammed Siraj trapped Mitchell LBW. However, the decision was overturned through DRS as the ball hit the inner edge of the bat. Mitchell took advantage of this and ensured the team’s victory with an unbroken 78-run partnership with Glenn Phillips (32 not out, 25 balls, one six, two fours).

Gill and Rohit added 70 runs for the first wicket

Earlier, the New Zealand bowlers, in a disciplined performance, had removed four Indian wickets for 118 runs in the 24th over, whereas at one time the score was 99 runs for one wicket. Rohit and Shubman, who seemed a little uncomfortable with the bat, added 70 runs in 12.2 overs for the first wicket.

score card

Christian Clarke (3-56) broke the partnership by returning Rohit and Shubman, who hit his second consecutive fifty, soon became the victim of Kyle Jamieson. After that, Shreyas Iyer (eight runs) was out after playing a bad shot, while in the 24th over, there was silence in the stadium when Clarke bowled Kohli (4-118).

Rahul made half-century partnerships with Jadeja and Nitish

At the moment, Rahul did not lose patience and scored his eighth century in his 85th innings, taking the team close to 200 with a partnership of 73 runs with local star Ravindra Jadeja (27 runs, 44 balls, one four). Rahul then added 57 runs for the sixth wicket with Nitish Kumar Reddy (20 runs) and then took one end and took the team to 284 runs. But this target also proved to be dwarf in front of Mitchell and Young.