New Zealand vs India 2014 - 3rd ODI: Which of the two teams will rue not winning the game?

Will the ‘tie’ prove costly come the end of the series?

There’s no scepticism that yesterday’s game at the Eden Park in Auckland was a humdinger of a contest, and at the end of it all, New Zealand still find themselves 2-0 up, leaving India with 2 must-win games to level the series. But, which of the two teams will repent not getting a result in their favour?

New Zealand, for most part of the game looked the better side, and by some margin, Team India though were not quite at it. Mohammed Shami had a woeful day with the ball, and to further compound our bowling frailties, the inclusion of Varun Aaron in place of Ishant Sharma didn’t quite make the difference you’d expect.

On the other hand, New Zealand were kind of restricted to 314 all-out, albeit reaching 209/3 at the end of 35 overs.

Needing 315 to stay alive in the series, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got the Indian innings off to the kind of start that was missing in the first couple of games in the series. Rohit Sharma (Hit-man), contrasting to his approach in previous games, meant business and took the initiative of going after the New Zealand new ball bowlers, while Dhawan stood and watched the ‘Hit-man’ show from the non-striker’s end.

The Indian openers raced to 64/0 at the end of 9 overs, and just for a moment you thought that this was finally going to be India’s day and game. But, the injection of Corey Anderson into the bowling attack bulldozed any such hopes as India collapsed to 15/4 in the space of 8 and a bit overs. Virat Kohli, unusually fell cheaply for 6. Suresh Raina joined MS Dhoni in the middle at 79/4, and New Zealand were totally in command of the proceedings.

Suresh Raina played with intent, and together with Dhoni, put on a 67-run stand for the 5th wicket. As has been the case right throughout this tour, India lost the wicket of Suresh Raina just as they were consolidating the innings, and at 146-5, the game seemed to be done and dusted for New Zealand.

Contrasting to expectations, Ashwin was promoted in the batting order ahead of Jadeja, and at the end of the game, he vindicated the Indian think-tank’s faith in his batting capabilities with a priceless 65. Ashwin played with ease and did the right thing of giving Dhoni the bulk of the strike, but Dhoni, having lost Suresh Raina was trapped in a catch-22 situation. He was struggling to make a decent contact with the ball, and the asking run-rate was rising at the rate of knots.

The Indian captain racked up yet another ODI half-century with a six off Corey Anderson, and looked to shift gears from there on. The very next delivery was a half-tracker from Corey Anderson, and the rising ball had Dhoni playing a vicious pull-shot, only for Southee to pluck the ball out of the air. This moment in the game, for me, summed up India’s tour so far.

With Dhoni’s departure, New Zealand were already envisaging something that they’d have never ever dreamed of, a series win against this Indian side. But with Ashwin being promoted ahead of him in the batting order, Jadeja was taunted to make a statement for himself. At 184/6, and India needing to go at 9 runs to an over, it had to be a miracle for New Zealand to lose and spoil all the hard work they had put in to go 2-0 up in the series.

Jadeja played audaciously, and Ashwin played his classical game of deft touches and dabs over fine-leg and third-man, game on it was. This duo complemented each other very well, and New Zealand’s ground fielding wasn’t quite up to its mark. They missed a catch and a stumping chance off Jadeja and Ashwin respectively, and Brendon McCullum was found scratching his head in disappointment.

At the end of 44 overs, India found themselves at 261-6, needing 54 runs off the last 6 overs and the impetus was firmly with them. The first ball of the 45th over was sent flying into the night sky by Ashwin off Nathan McCullum for a massive six, and India were well in sight of the target.

On the 5th ball of the over, you could say that Ashwin was way too ambitious, and went for another hoick, this time over mid-wicket, but a piece of brilliance from Martin Guptill to remain aware of the boundary rope and the ball in air saw him pull off a ripper of a catch to dismiss Ashwin.

Statement innings from Jaddu!

Jadeja stood firm though, and with 18 required off the last over of the Indian innings, the odds would have favoured Corey Anderson and New Zealand to thwart any Indian miracle. But Jadeja was here to prove the bookies wrong, and with a couple of fours and a six in the first five balls of the over, you thought that Jadeja could score the required two runs off the last ball and clinch it for Team India.

Straight after he struck the six over deep mid-wicket, there was ambiguity on the face of Jadeja in not knowing what to do off the last ball of the match.

Brendon McCullum had pushed all the fielders right back on the leg-side boundary, and it was tantalizingly setup for Jadeja to steal a brace, if he was to prefer such an option. Anderson went for the wide yorker outside the off-stump, and Jadeja could manage only a single to the man at extra-cover and the the game ended in a ‘tie’.

That being said, which of the two teams will be disappointed at the end of the game? From the series’ perspective, India will certainly be dejected at not pulling off a win and reducing the series deficit to 1. New Zealand on the other hand, will be disappointed at not going 3-0 up, but if they can compose themselves and repeat their performances from the first couple of ODIs, there’s no reason why they can’t complete the series win in the 4th one-dayer.

At the end of it all, Cricket is the winner, and ICC should take notice of games such as this one. No need of tinkering with the format.

It’s exciting, exhilarating and nerve-wracking!