New Zealand is on a short tour of India and will play three one day cricket matches (50 overs each) and also take part in a T-20 series along with Sri Lanka. The Indian team led by Virat Kohli is on a high and have just decimated the Australian team with a facile 4-1 victory. The New Zealand team thus began the tour as the underdogs and the bookies gave low odds for a New Zealand win. The Kiwi cricket team has been touring Indian since 1956 when the duo of Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid battled heroically but lost the series. One can recollect that Bert Sutcliffe hit 230 not out at Delhi in the 3rd test match, which remains the highest test cricket score by any New Zealand batsman in India till date.
Led by Kane Williamson the present New Zealand team does not have many players who have previously played in India. They were expected to be easy fodder for the Indian team. The match at the Wankhede Stadium played on October 22 was a pleasant surprise as the New Zealand team romped home, beating India by six wickets in an upset win.
Match
Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. It was a decent batting wicket but the New Zealand bowlers led by Boult gave a disciplined performance in the humid conditions. They restricted India to a score of 280 for 8 wickets. The Indian captain overtook the number of centuries scored by Ricky Pointing as he hit his 31st century with a score of 121. Virat Kohli later in a press interview said that he thought that a score of 280 was good enough to test New Zealand in the conditions.
He admitted he was wrong and India were about 20-30 runs short of a winning score.
NZ win
New Zealand commenced the chase under floodlights and some dew on the ground. The openers gave a decent start with Guptill hitting 32, but both departed and captain Williamson could score only 9 and it looked that India would win. In stepped Tom Latham and Ross Taylor who negotiated the Indian spinners with determination.
They batted superbly and put on a record 200 runs for the 4th wicket. The New Zealand team slowly began to inch closer to the Indian total and led by a magnificent century from Latham who made 103 in 95 balls and Taylor who made 95, the visitors overhauled the Indian total in 49 overs - this according to the detailed coverage given by Cricinfo.com.
Future
New Zealand has pulled off an upset win and is off to a flying start. The series has become alive and there is a good chance they could beat India on their home ground. India has not lost to New Zealand for decades and in case the tourists win it will be a tremendous achievement.
