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India vs New Zealand's fifth ODI match has concluded as the Men in Blue have won the low-scoring match by 22 runs at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. This is the first time that the India National Cricket Team has won both the ODI and T20I series against the Kiwis away from home. Shreyas Iyer, after the win, opened up on the team’s performance.
Speaking after the win, Shreyas Iyer was ecstatic and also said that the ODI series was not for the batters, given the kind of pitches that have been offered, and credited his team and the bowling performance in the final game of the series. After the 2018/19 season, India won the ODI series against the Black Caps.
India middle order helps to post a decent total
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner finally won the toss and elected to field first. They made two changes with Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson went out with Blair Tickner, and Jacob Duffy replaced them. For the Men in Blue, it was Kuldeep Yadav who was dropped; Yash Thakur made his ODI debut, and Mohammed Siraj came back in place of Gurnoor Brar.
India had a decent start, but Rohit Sharma’s poor form in New Zealand continued as he was dismissed for seven runs. Soon, Virat Kohli also went back for five runs; Ruturaj Gaikwad looked in good touch but could not convert his start. The Men in Blue were struggling when Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan tried to stitch a partnership.
Axar and Kishan both scored 46 runs, and they helped the side to go past the 100-run mark. India were bundled out for 209 runs, with some runs from the lower-middle order and the bowling department. Mitchell Santner and Jacob Duffy picked three wickets each.
Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj cruise over New Zealand batting
While chasing, New Zealand had a good start, with Mohammed Siraj giving Shreyas Iyer the first breakthrough, picking up the wicket of dangerous Tim Seifert. After that, the Kiwis had a decent partnership with Will Young and Nick Kelly. But they were dismissed soon as India bowlers built pressure in the middle overs.
The wickets kept on tumbling at regular intervals; the home side came close, but they failed to get over the line and were bundled out for 187 runs. Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with the figures of 3/30 in his 10 overs.
"I think it’s a great achievement": Shreyas Iyer on winning ODI and T20I series in New Zealand
In the post-match presentation, Shreyas Iyer was overall happy with the team winning the T20I series under him and then winning the series jointly under the leadership of Shubman Gill and Shreyas. He also stated that the weather and the conditions were not very suitable, as it was changing, and congratulated everyone.
He said (as quoted by Cricbuzz), "[Winning the T20I and ODI series in New Zealand and overcoming changing weather and playing conditions] Exactly. I think both the series T20 and ODI coming over here, we were provided with different conditions. The weather kept changing. Face with a lot of challenges and coming out triumphs, I think it’s a great achievement."
"And today we had that certain kind of belief even though we didn’t get that many runs in batting. But still we were hoping that we can change the game at any point of time. And I’m glad that every individual thought in the same direction and we were able to execute that."
"They stood up to the occasion": Shreyas Iyer praises India's pace bowling
On speaking about the pitch, he felt that it was more for the bowlers than the batters. He praised his bowling department as they stood up big on every occasion and they were confident.
Shreyas Iyer added, "[Team adaptability, batting challenges and the confidence placed in the bowling attack throughout the series] Definitely if you see the whole series, it wasn’t a series for batsmen."
"The way the bowlers bowled, they stood up to the occasion and definitely were confident enough to see to it that they would get the team through irrespective of the conditions. I think that’s the mindset of all the players that we need and the character each and every individual possesses. It’s top notch," Shreyas Iyer said.
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