India vs New Zealand ODI series: 5 biggest plays of the series

#3 Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 154

Virat Kohli was on imperious form once again

Throughout the series, the Indian openers failed to get the innings off to a flier as either Rohit or Rahane fell early in all the matches and this put on a lot of burden on Virat Kohli to deliver. With a lot of pressure on him, the Indian Test skipper managed to stamp his authority over the Kiwi bowlers as he scored over at least 45 in four of the five matches in the series.

The third ODI at Mohali gave the fans a Virat Kohli special as the Indian ODI vice-captain was at his best throughout the innings. After surviving a dropped chance when he was at 6, Kohli went on to make full use of it and taught Ross Taylor a lesson for putting a sitter at slip.

Chasing 286 to win, Kohli and MS Dhoni put on a 151-run partnership for the third wicket and set the tone for India’s victory. After reaching his century off just 104 balls, Kohli went into an entirely different zone as he punished the Kiwi bowlers by smashing them all over the park. India needed 72 runs when Kohli reached his 26^th ODI ton, and out of those 72, Kohli went to score 54 and won the match for India with ten balls to spare.

He was severe on Trent Boult as he plundered 22 runs off one Boult over and reached his second 150+ score in ODIs. In the end, he remained unbeaten on 154 off just 134 balls with the help of 16 fours and one six. This knock reminded the fans of the unbeaten 82 off 51 balls against Australia at the same venue during the 2016 World T20.

#4 New Zealand’s batting collapse in the fifth ODI

Amit Mishra bamboozled New Zealand with his googlies

With the series leveled 2-2, New Zealand required 270 in the fifth ODI at Vizag to win the series. The visitors were off to a disastrous start as they lost the wicket of Martin Guptill in the first over of the innings and lost Tom Latham against the run of play inside the first six overs.

New Zealand were 63-2 after 14.3 overs when the Indian spinners triggered a collapse. Axar Patel struck to dismiss Kane Williamson caught by Kedar Jadhav at long-off and in the next over, Mishra dismissed Ross Taylor caught behind. Two balls later, Mishra bowled a superb googly to beat BJ Watling’s defense and hit the stumps.

Corey Anderson and Jimmy Neesham were clueless, and their stay at the crease was cut short as Jayant Yadav trapped Anderson plumb in front to get his first ODI wicket and in the very next ball, Mishra’s delivery breached Neesham’s defense and hit the middle stump. In the same over, MS Dhoni gave Mishra his fourth wicket with a flashy stumping to dismiss Tim Southee before Mishra returned to get his fifth by dismissing Ish Sodhi a couple of overs later.

Axar finished off the innings by castling Santner in the first of the 23^rd over with the scorecard reading just 79. In the last 52 balls, New Zealand managed to score just 16 runs and lost eight wickets and gifted the series to India a day before Diwali.