India vs New Zealand 2020, 2nd ODI: 3 reasons why New Zealand won the match

#1 Lack of significant partnerships by the Indian top order

None of the Indian batsmen could kick on and hold the innings together for India.

In a chase of 274, the Indian batsmen needed at least one significant partnership at the top of the order. And that is exactly what did not happen for the ‘Men in Blue’.

The opening partnership yielded just 21 runs, the second wicket of Prithvi Shaw fell when the score was 34, and Virat Kohli fell for just 15, with the scorecard reading 57/3.

KL Rahul perished for just 4, and Kedar Jadhav departed for a painstaking 9 runs, after consuming 27 balls. By the time Ravindra Jadeja and Navdeep Saini got together, it was too late, as the damage had already been done.

Even if one batsman could have carried on and stayed till the end, just like how Taylor anchored the innings for New Zealand, the Indians could have got over the line. But sadly for them, none of the top order batsmen could not carry on, and that really hurt the team.