What went wrong for the Indian cricket team in the 1st ODI against New Zealand
Currently, India Cricket Team is playing an away 3-match T20I series and a 3-match ODI series against New Zealand. India won the T20I series by a 1-0 margin, but in the 1st match of the ODI series New Zealand defeated India by 7 wickets. In the 1st ODI, while batting first India registered a good total of 306 runs with the help of the 3 half centuries including Shikhar Dhawan’s 72 (77), Gill’s 50 (65), and Shreya’s 80 (76). Also, Washinton Sundar’s quick cameo of 37 runs in 16 balls helped India to cross the 300-runs mark in the death overs.
New Zealand Batting
In the first 20 overs of chasing, Indian bowlers troubled New Zealand batters by reducing them to 88 for 3. India was a couple of wickets away from winning the 1st ODI but the massive 200 runs plus partnership stand between kiwi’s skipper Kane Williamson and their wicket-keeper batsmen Tom Latham dominated all the Indian bowlers till the target was not achieved. Tom Latham scored a brilliant century of 145 runs in 104 balls including 19 fours and 5 sixes whereas his partner Kane scored 94 runs in 98 balls including 7 fours and 1 six. Tom Latham averages 50+ against India in ODIs, and he showed why he likes to play Indian bowlers. Both kept rotating the strikes to keep the required rate stable and hit boundaries at regular intervals. They both showed why their side is the ICC Ranked 1 ODI team in the world right now.
What exactly went wrong for the Indian Cricket Team?
1) Bowling Options: India had only 5 bowling options with no extra option. When a couple of bowlers conceded a few more extra runs India could not use the luxury of the 6th bowler they somehow had to manage within their five options. The opposition made full use of this opportunity.
2) Bowling changes: Team India had no luxury of a 6th bowler so they looked very desperate for wickets, especially after the first 10 overs of the partnership between Kane and Latham. India was in want of the wickets and did around 7-8 bowling spell changes in the middle 21 to 40 overs. They also wasted their reviews to break the partnership.
3) Field Position: After the loss of 3 quick wickets in the first 20 overs, India gave easy singles to the new batters to settle down on the pitch. The field looked more defensive than aggressive. Kane and Latham used this opportunity to build small partnerships through singles and doubles once they were set, they chased down the massive target of 307 runs in less than 50 vers.
