Impressive India restrict NZ to 230 for 9

Indian bowlers made a roaring comeback by restricting New Zealand to 230 for 9 in the second ODI at Pune.

New Delhi: Indian bowlers made a roaring comeback by restricting New Zealand to 230 for 9 in the second ODI at Pune.

The match started on schedule time despite the pitch controversy, but there was no doubt as to which team had read the conditions better on Wednesday afternoon.

The Indian new bowlers ran through the New Zealand top order after they opted to bat first. Bhuvenshwar Kumar removed the dangerous Martin Guptill (11) with a jaffer that shaped away after pitching and kissed Guptill’s outer half of the bat.

The visiting captain Williamson’s (4) scratchy innings was put to end by Jasprit Bumrah with a lovely in dipper that struck him right in front.

Bhuvneshwar then deceived Collin Munro (12) with a knuckle ball to reduce the visitors to 27 for 3.

The previous match heroes Tom Latham and Ross Taylor blocked Bumrah and Bhuvenshwar for a brief period before Hardik Pandya got Taylor caught down the leg side for 21.

The left-hander duo of Latham and Nicholls then got together to bail the visitors out of trouble. Latham was again looking in complete control, crafting his way through the middle overs just when his most preferred sweep shot brought his downfall. He got a bit too far across and missed an Axar Patel delivery that crashed into the stumps.

Bhuvenshwar returned to send New Zealand’s highest scorer Nicholls’ (42) leg stump for a walk. They were six down for 165, battling to bat out fifty overs.

Collin de Grandhomme played a few lofted shots in between to take New Zealand close to the 200-run mark but he too fell for 42 when he was threatening to the take the game away from India.

After removing Grandhomme, Chahal then got Milne LBW off the very first ball.

It was some gutsy batting from Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee that stretched the New Zealand total to 230.

For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most impressive with figures of 3 for 45.