Rohit Sharma is expecting a big score from him after his half-century knock vs New Zealand

India have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead and will be eyeing a clean sweep in the third ODI.


Rohit Sharma is expecting a big score from him after his half-century knock vs New Zealand

Rohit Sharma

India captain Rohit Sharma completed his half-century in the second ODI against New Zealand at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium, in Raipur on Saturday (January 21). The stadium also hosted its first international match for the first time and the Indian skipper became the first batter to slam a six at this big ground.

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Rohit had a brain-fade moment during the toss. It took him a while to opt for bowling. When the Kiwi batters walked out to bat, they were finding it difficult to face tight bowling from the pacers in the powerplay. They lost their first wicket for a score of zero, owing to Mohammed Shami’s brilliant bowling to trap Fin Allen for lbw.

Then Mohammed Siraj got rid of Henry Nicholls in the sixth over; while in the next over, Shami sent in-form Daryl Mitchell packing. The Kiwis were surprised as to what was happening so quickly when opener Devon Conway became a victim of Hardik Pandya’s jaw-dropping caught and bowled.

The flamboyant all-rounder came into the attack in the 10th over; and on the fourth ball, Conway pushed it to the mid-on, but Pandya displayed his quick reflex, got low, and caught it with his left hand. Kiwi’s score read 15/4 and they didn’t score even a run when they lost skipper Tom Latham. By then, half of the Kiwi batters had headed back to the dugout.

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Mohammed Shami was awarded with the Player of the Match

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma

Then entered the last ODI’s centurion Michael Bracewell. India didn’t forget how, despite putting the Black Caps in a tight situation, Bracewell dragged the game to Kiwi’s favor in the previous ODI. However, even he couldn’t face Shami and departed for 22 runs. Glenn Phillips, the highest run-scorer for his team was developing a stand between Mitchell Santner. They took the total to 103 when Pandya broke the crucial 47-run stand by shattering Santner’s stump.

In the next over, Phillips fell prey to Washington Sundar’s delivery and exited the field with a score of 36 from 52 balls, which included five boundaries. Other’s single-digit scores couldn’t do much, and Kuldeep Yadav’s dismissal of Blair Tickner gave a comfortable target of 109 runs.

The Indian openers’ scores were enough to chase down the target. Captain Rohit Sharma displayed some power-hitting, smashing the ball two times over the ropes, along with seven boundaries, to complete his half-century off 50 balls. An incident occurred while Rohit was at the crease, a boy invaded the ground and hugged the India skipper. Rohit told the security to not take any action.

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Later Virat Kohli and Ishan Kishan added 11 and unbeaten eight runs respectively. Double centurion Shubman Gill also remained unbeaten on 40 from 53 balls.

India chased down the target easily by eight wickets. Mohammed Shami was given the Player of the Match award for his figures of 3/18. India have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead and will be eyeing a clean sweep in the third ODI.

It will be a good thing for the Indian team if Rohit continues batting like this. He is also expecting a big score from him, although he is not worried about his lack of centuries; the last he score in the format was in 2020. “I am happy with my batting, I have kept my approach quite similar. I know a big score is around the corner.”

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