India vs New Zealand 2019: 3 positives and 2 negatives for India from their ODI series win

Positive #3: The performance of Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu helped India post a match-winning score in the last ODI

The pressure was on Ambati Rayudu to deliver the goods following his dismal performances in the ODI series against Australia. Some people were also of the opinion to move MS Dhoni permanently to number four, following his heroics in the Australian series.

However, Virat Kohli has publicly acknowledged Rayudu’s ability to perform in the middle order in the past, and Rayudu himself didn’t do any harm to his chances with his performances in this series.

He ended up with 190 runs in 5 matches at an average of 63.33, but it was his performance in the final match of the series that may have silenced all his critics. He helped India recover from 18-4, with a knock that had a bit of everything; taking his time in the beginning, rotating the strike in the middle phase of his innings, and unleashing his big hits towards the end.

He has taken India out of wobbly situations before, such as the Asia Cup game against Pakistan in 2014 and the 1st ODI against Zimbabwe in 2015, but performing in conditions where the ball was swinging against the likes of Trent Boult and Matt Henry is a big feat in itself. That has pretty much sealed his spot in the batting order, if it wasn’t already.

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