New Zealand vs India: Second ODI- Rating the players

One way or another, India keeps on finding the ways to win matches. They continued their good form and won the 2nd ODI vs New Zealand at the Bay Oval.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave India a great start by completing their fifties. They put on a century stand after 10 ODIs. Contributions from Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni and a cameo in death overs by Kedar Jadhav propelled India to 324, which turned out to be a good score.

In reply, New Zealand never really looked like chasing the score. Most of their batsmen got the starts but perished to the spin of Kuldeep before making a significant contribution. Some late quality batting by Doug Bracewell was the saving grace for them, otherwise, they never looked comfortable in the pursuit of the target.

India took a 2-0 lead in the series. Here are the player ratings for the 2nd ODI.

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India

Team India

Shikhar Dhawan: 8/10

Shikhar Dhawan scored his first half-century in 9 innings in the first ODI and got back to form. He continued his good form here by scoring a very good half-century. He looked fluent right from the start. However, he will feel he missed out on a hundred here.

Rohit Sharma: 8.5/10

Rohit took his time as he does so often but once he got into his groove, he looked in total control. He played some delightful strokes throughout his innings. He looked well set for another big innings but got before completing his first ever hundred in New Zealand.

Virat Kohli: 6/10

Kohli batted really well for his 43. He rotated the strike from the moment he arrived at the crease and picked up occasional boundaries when he wanted to. However, he was undone by a very good short ball by Trent Boult.

Ambati Rayudu: 6/10

He struggled for first few balls but started timing them well once he got the idea of the pace of the pitch. Rayudu played some delightful strokes but struggled to up the ante in the last stage of his innings.

MS Dhoni: 8.5/10

He rotated the strike very well right from the start and found the gaps successfully when he wanted to. He was middling the ball very well. He seems to be getting better with the bat as he plays more and more.

Kedar Jadhav: 9/10

Kedar Jadhav played a wonderful cameo coming at the crease when there were only a handful of deliveries left and made full use of them. He picked his spots to score runs quickly. Additionally, he bowled beautifully and did his job to perfection.

Vijay Shankar: 3/10

Vijay Shankar couldn’t get the chance to bat but he bowled a couple of overs. He constantly missed his length and was a bit expensive.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 6/10

Bhuvneshwar was much more consistent than the last match in terms of his line and length. He bowled with very good control except for an odd ball on Colin Munro’s pad. He took the important wickets of Martin Guptill and Bracewell.

Mohammed Shami: 5/10

Shami bowled way better than his figures suggest. After going an absolutely expensive over bowling to Kane Williamson and going for 20 runs in it, he came back by taking the big wicket of Kane in that very over. He then bowled with good pace and control in his second spell.

Kuldeep Yadav: 9.5/10

It was another fantastic performance by Kuldeep today. Like he does every time, Kuldeep bowled slow, flighted the ball and got it to turn. He constantly troubled the batsmen not only with his turn but the intelligent change in his lines and lengths. He foxed the batters completely. He was a bit expensive in his last couple of overs but overall it was a beautiful display of spin bowling.

Yuzvendra Chahal: 6.5/10

Chahal started off very well today. He bowled slow and got a bit of turn. He got Colin Munro's important wicket. He ended up being a bit expensive after that because Bracewell handled him very well.

New Zealand

Another poor performance from Kiwis

Martin Guptill: 3/10

Guptill had luck on his side today. He survived a run-out and a dropped catch but failed to make most of it. He was dismissed cheaply when he top-edged a short ball by Bhuvi to third man.

Colin Munro: 6/10

Munro got off to a decent start. He looked solid from the word go and picked up few boundaries in between, but got out to Chahal when he attempted a reckless switch hit against him.

Kane Williamson: 5/10

Kane Williamson looked in ominous touch from the very beginning. He played two very good hook shots for a six followed by a gorgeous backfoot punch for four, but got out when he chopped on a ball while trying to cut it.

Ross Taylor: 5/10

Another Kiwi player, another batsman in the 20s, another wicket. He looked so solid for his 22 but was a victim of superfast hands of MS Dhoni after being deceived by a ball from Jadhav.

Tom Latham: 6/10

He looked the best batsman from his side but all he could manage was 34 runs. One of the reasons why New Zealand lost was the wicket of Latham that exposed the lower order very early into the innings. He looked comfortable against the spinners briefly as well but failed to Kuldeep’s brilliance.

Henry Nicholls: 5/10

In, set, out! Nicholls followed the story of every Kiwi batsman today. He looked solid versus the pace of Shami. He even started off well against Kuldeep except for a couple of blips but perished when he tried to hit him and up the ante.

Collin de Grandhomme: 2/10

Colin de Grandhomme was ordinary in both departments of the game. He conceded runs with the ball because of his lack of control, going for 62 runs in his 8 overs. He then played a poor stroke to get out when instead he should have stayed there with Nicholls to take the chase further.

Doug Bracewell: 8/10

Doug Bracewell got some movement early in Indian innings but failed to make the batsman play and somewhat wasted the new ball. He looked pretty ineffective once the ball got old. However, he was excellent with the bat except for a few balls at the start of his innings, he read and handled the spinners very well. He nudged the ball around for singles followed by striking some powerful and beautiful boundaries. He was the best batsman on show from his side.

Ish Sodhi: 6/10

10 overs and 43 runs conceded are very respectable figures for a spinner when the opposition scores 324. Though he fared decently, he bowled a bad bowl in every over but was lucky that most of them weren’t dispatched for runs.

Lockie Ferguson: 4/10

Ferguson bowled well at the start and in middle overs. He bowled with good pace and hit the deck hard but got hit for a couple of biggies by Rohit when he bowled short to him. Eventually, he was the one to get him out. But his last over was poor, he couldn’t land the ball in the right spot and Jadhav took full advantage of it.

Trent Boult: 6/10

Boult bowled with very good control with the new ball. He almost had a wicket off his first ball of the innings. He kept it tight throughout the innings and got Kohli with a very good short ball. However, his death bowling left a lot to be desired.