Latham, Taylor outdo Kohli, NZ win by 6 wickets to go 1-0 up

Ross Taylor and Tom Latham squashed India’s hopes of reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings by leading New Zealand to a six-wicket win and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

New Delhi: Ross Taylor and Tom Latham squashed India’s hopes of reclaiming the No. 1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings by leading New Zealand to a six-wicket win and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

India needed a clean sweep to dislodge South Africa but Latham and Taylor displayed impeccable technique to smother the spin-threat and set the series alive.

The duo of Taylor and Latham spoilt Virat Kohli’s 200^th ODI party by stitching a 200-run fourth-wicket partnership, which is the highest for any wicket at the Wankhede Stadaium to take the game away from India.

Taylor was unlucky to miss out on a century as he was hold out at cover for 95 when New Zealand were 1 run away from victory. His partner at the other end, Tom Latham did no wrong by registering his fourth ODI hundred. He stayed unbeaten at 103 while Henry Nichols sealed the win with a boundary off the very first ball he faced.

Chasing a target of 281, New Zealand faltered in the beginning, losing their top three for 80. Martin Guptill (82) and Collin Munro (28) gave a brisk start before Bumrah removed Munro.

The Indian spinners immediately got into the act as Kuldeep Yadav sent the opposition captain Kane Williamson back to the pavilion for 6.

Guptill too could not carry on for long, a Pandya bouncer did him in. With India in the drivers’ seat, in came wicket-keeper batsman Tom Latham.

Fresh from a hundred in the second warm-up game the Brabourne stadium, Latham looked in complete control from the word go. He used the sweep shot to perfection against both Chahal and Kuldeep to unsettle their rhythm.

When he got past his fifty, he started to use the reverse sweep to good effect. The left-hander hit eight fours and two sixes on his way to his fourth ODI hundred.

Taylor at the other end was as calm as a cucumber. He did look a little nervy at the start, particularly against the leg spin of Chahal but started to feed off Latham as time progressed.

Earlier, Indian captain Virat Kohli broke multiple records on his way to 121 and took India to a fighting 280.

Kohli mixed caution with aggression hitting 121 off 125 balls -- his 31st hundred in the 50-over format that took him past former Australian captain Ricky Ponting as the second highest ton-getter in this format. Only Sachin Tendulkar with 49 hundreds is ahead of him.

It was Trent Boult, who gave the Kiwis early breakthroughs, removing Shikhar Dhawan (9 off 12 balls) and Rohit Sharma (20 off 18 balls) cheaply on a Wankhede pitch which had spongy bounce and ball was holding up a bit.

Boult lived up to his reputation and got the ball to swing and seam. Dhawan nicked one to 'keeper Tom Latham in the fourth over, with the hosts 16-1.

Boult then cleaned up Sharma in his next over, as he got the ball to come into the right-hander leaving India struggling at 29/2.

Rohit pulled Southee for consecutive sixes but the Mumbai batsman failed to convert his start. For the Kiwis, Boult (4- 35) was the pick of the bowlers as he later removed Dhoni and Pandya.