IND vs NZ, 2nd ODI: New Zealand Beat India By 22 Runs, Seal Series 2-0

New Zealand defeated India by 22 runs in the 2nd ODI played at the Eden Park in Auckland and won the 3-match series 2-0.

New Delhi: New Zealand defeated India by 22 runs in the 2nd ODI played at the Eden Park at Auckland and won the 3-match series 2-0. The Kiwis restricted India to 251 after setting a challenging total of 273 with the bat. The Kiwis seamers made early inroads into the Indian batting after both the openers were dismissed cheaply .While Prithvi Shaw was dismissed by debutant Jamieson after scoring a quick-fire 24 , Agarwal fell to Hamish Bennett for 3. Indian skipper Virat Kohli had a second successive failure after he was clean bowled by Tim Southee for 15. Wickets kept on tumbling as Lokesh Rahul and Kedar Jadhav fell cheaply. Meanwhile,  Shreyas Iyer stood his ground at one end and compiled a half century to  keep India's fight intact. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja stitched partnerships with Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini to take India close to the target but it was too late by then.

Indian bowlers came out with a much improved performance as they restricted New Zealand to 273/8 in the second ODI at the Eden Park on Saturday. Taylor, who had guided the hosts to a thrilling victory in Hamilton, once again starred with the bat as she played a crucial knock of unbeaten 72. Put into bat, the Black Caps were provided with a great start as Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 93 runs for the opening wicket. Both the openers started cautiously as the Indian pacers bowled on great lines and lengths and didn't provide them with the width to free their arms. After seeing the early phase, both Guptill and Nicholls started picking up runs and laid down the platform for a huge first-innings total. However, it was leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who drew first blood and scalped Nicholls at his individual score of 41. Tom Blundell (22), who came in next, then stayed for a while before getting caught at mid-on by Navdeep Saini while trying to pull a short ball bowled by Shardul Thakur. In the 30th over, Guptill was undone by a brilliant piece of fielding by Thakur, who got the New Zealand opener run-out by K.L. Rahul. Guptill, 33, scored 79 runs off 79 balls, which included 8 boundaries and 3 sixes. That wicket of Guptill opened the floodgates as the hosts lost a flurry of wickets. From 157/3, they were reduced to 197/8 and were looking to be restricted below 250. However, debutant fast bowler Kyle Jamieson (25*) then stitched a brilliant partnership of 76-runs for the ninth wicket with Taylor to give New Zealand bowlers something to bowl and clinch their first ODI series win over India in six years. Chahal was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he picked up three wickets, giving away 58 runs in his 10 overs. Thakur also picked two wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja scalped one giving away just 35 runs. Brief Scores: New Zealand 273/8 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 79, Ross Taylor 72*, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/58)