India New Zealand ODI: Brar’s four wickets seal DLS win

India won the second India New Zealand ODI by four runs under the DLS method in Wellington, after rain ended a low-scoring thriller.

The result gave India a 2-0 lead in the series, after their win in the first ODI. Gurnoor Brar took four wickets and won the Player of the Match award.

How the India New Zealand ODI unfolded

New Zealand fell to 134 all out in 41 overs after India won the toss and chose to bowl. Auqib Nabi removed Tim Seifert and Will Young early, which left the hosts on 11 for 2.

Anshul Kamboj then dismissed Henry Nicholls. New Zealand slipped to 23 for 3 on a pitch with steep, uneven bounce and seam movement.

Daryl Mitchell fought back with 55 off 104 balls. Mitchell Santner added 31, and the pair put on 59 for the sixth wicket.

Brar then turned the match. He removed Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in the same over, and later he broke the Mitchell-Santner stand. He finished with 4 for 30 from 10 overs, his best figures.

Axar Patel, Kamboj and Nabi took two wickets each, and the India New Zealand ODI turned on that bowling spell.

Rain ends the chase

India needed 135 and began badly. Jacob Duffy removed Shubman Gill for a golden duck and then dismissed Virat Kohli for seven.

Rohit Sharma made 23 before Kyle Jamieson dismissed him. Jamieson also removed Shreyas Iyer, who scored 30, and later took Kamboj. India stood at 111 for 7.

Rahul remained not out on 26 from 38 deliveries, hitting two boundaries and two sixes, while Nabi was on one. India needed 22 more runs with 21 overs left and three wickets in hand. However, persistent rain stopped play with India on 113 for 7 after 26 overs.

Under the DLS method, India stood four runs above the par score of 109 at the stoppage, so the umpires abandoned play and awarded India the win. The game was a 47-overs-a-side contest.

A pitch that favoured the bowlers

Mitchell said it felt like batting on a trampoline. Fifteen wickets fell to fast bowlers, and the two sides scored only 247 runs between them. Rain on the eve of the match and on the morning itself helped create that pitch.

Jamieson and Duffy took three wickets apiece for the hosts. In this India New Zealand ODI, India fielded four fast bowlers who kept pounding the pitch. The scoreboard moved slowly, so batters had to play risky shots.

New Zealand also fielded four quicks, but they lacked a cushion of runs. India’s batters punished loose balls, and 78 of their 113 runs came in boundaries.

Grounds in New Zealand also lack a proper pitch square, so the ball loses pace on the lush grass after it bounces. That made it harder to work the ball into gaps. The hosts have also lost the toss in six of seven matches on this tour. In this match, that left them three wickets down before they had read the pitch.

For now, the India New Zealand ODI leaves India in control of the series, though rain denied both sides a clean finish.