New Zealand vs India 2014: Anderson and Southee shine as Kiwis take a 2-0 lead

Virat Kohli of India reacts as he leaves the field after being dismissed by Tim Southee of New Zealand during the One Day International match between New Zealand and India at Seddon Park on January 22, 2014 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Chasing a Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 297 in 42 overs, India were restricted to 277/9 at Seddon Park, Hamilton, despite aggressive half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. New Zealand now lead the five-match series 2-0, and India, with Dhoni hell bent on not changing the team combination that apparently is not working, as against the Kiwi side firing on all cylinders, do not look like coming back into the series by any means.

The visitors were off to a disappointing start as they lost both their openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma cheaply. Tim Southee picked up both the wickets as Dhawan (12 off 22) dragged one onto the stumps while attempting a wild slog, and Rohit (20 off 34) edged a good length delivery to Luke Ronchi. It was all up to Virat Kohli again, but unlike last time he found much needed support from Ajinkya Rahane to rebuild the innings which was losing its track.

The 3rd wicket pair combined to score 90 off the next 13.5 overs. Kohli, undaunted by the mammoth task at hand, kept the chase within control by scoring at a brisk pace. The dashing Indian batsman reserved special treatment for Corey Anderson. It looked like India were on track to level the series, despite the dismissal of Rahane (36 off 42), but Southee came back to strike again to send Kohli (78 off 65) back to the pavilion.

Raina, coming in at no.6 showed signs of finding his touch back, by playing a counter-attacking knock of 35 off just 22 balls. But with the dismissal of the CSK player, who holed out at midwicket off the bowling of Mills, the home team successfully derailed the chase. Dhoni (56 off 44), who misread a slower one from Anderson, was the last nail in the coffin. Southee was the wrecker-in-chief picking up 4 important wickets in the game.

Earlier in the day, put into bat first by the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, New Zealand lost Jesse Ryder (20 off 11) early in the innings with the team score at 25. The southpaw looked in extremely good touch playing attractive shots through the off-side, before edging one back to the keeper of Mohammad Shami’s bowling.

Kane Williamson joined Martin Guptill at the crease, and the pair comfortably eased the Kiwi score past 100. Just when Guptill (44 off 65) was beginning to find his touch, Suresh Raina provided a timely breakthrough as the 28-year-old miscued a sweep shot straight to short fine leg. Meanwhile, Williamson, who had gone past his half-century, looked at ease milking the spinners on a slow wicket that had some turn on offer as well.

Ross Taylor was circumspect to start off with but managed to not gift his wicket in attempting get rid of the shackles. With the score moving on to 170/2 in 33.2 overs, and Kane Williamson at 75* off 84 deliveries, rain intervened. The delay was quite lengthy as a result of which a total of 16 overs were reduced from the match. A 42-over duel meant, the home side which had planned the onslaught a little later were caught unaware and the advantage, with a strong batting line-up on a good batting wicket, was ceded to India.

Corey Anderson, coming in after the dismissal of Williamson who perished for 77 in pursuit of quick runs, had different ideas though. The world record holder, combining with Taylor to put together 74 runs in the next 4.4 overs, smashed 44 off just 17 balls. The left-hander took special liking for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma; both of whom look like nowhere close to turning on their woeful form. A tight spell from Shami, who returned to pick up Brendon McCullum, for a duck, and Taylor in successive deliveries, helped India keep some check on the scoring rate.