Yet again, the Indian National Cricket Team displayed brilliant skills with the bat on Wednesday at Hamilton. The flamboyant Shreyas Iyer and the wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul continued their form with the bat in the middle to help India post a massive score on the board.
Getting into the details of the game, it was New Zealand, who won the toss, asked the visitors to bat first. Accepting the challenge, the Indian openers responded well by scoring runs thick and fast in the powerplay overs.
However, the back to back dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal in 8th and 9th over of the game brought New Zealand back into the game. Then came the magical partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli, who added 102 runs for the third wicket.
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Just when things looked drifting away, Ish Sodhi removed Virat Kohli with a googly to help New Zealand stage a comeback again. But the in-form KL Rahul played his strokes fluently to make things fall in place.
He added a 132-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer to give a much-needed boost in the middle overs for India. During the course of the partnership, Shreyas Iyer brought his maiden century before being dismissed by Tim Southee in the slog overs. However, KL Rahul never backed down, as he went to find his way for boundaries to give a tough time for New Zealand in the middle.
In the end, KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav smashed it brilliantly to finish things on a grand note for India. The Karnataka batsman finished with an unbeaten 88* while Kedar Jadhav scored 26* runs off 15 balls to give a powerful finish for the team. Overall, India managed to post 347 runs on the board.
Here are a few tweets:
Shreyas Iyer ??? pic.twitter.com/uaBItaUo45
— GJ (@Joshuva_Geo) February 5, 2020
Shreyas Iyer ? #INDvsNZ #FirstODI
— ⭐భవధీయుడు భీమ్ల వంశీకృష్ణా⭐ (@vamsi_pamuri) February 5, 2020
Man on Mission.
Shreyas Iyer?? pic.twitter.com/0rpjyMqOIG— P A N T H E R™ (@CricSurya07) February 5, 2020
Maiden ? For Shreyas Iyer ? ?#NZvsIND #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/vZrwYtCNKQ
— AHKhan… (@BeingAHKhan24) February 5, 2020
Congratulations @ShreyasIyer15 for your first ODI ton. You have shown the world that if one keeps trying, uska time zarur aata hai! #INDvNZ #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/c73f68CLZq
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) February 5, 2020
Rahul becoming the most valuable player in the Indian team. The frequency his role changes not to many players can perform like him under such demands. #KLRahul #INDvNZ #BCCI
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) February 5, 2020
Well batted SS Iyer. Start of something big. #INDvNZ
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) February 5, 2020
Well done @ShreyasIyer15 on your first ODI Ton. Many more to come… #NZvIND
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) February 5, 2020
Opens the innings ✅
Keeps wickets ✅
Stands in as captain ✅
Now finishes big for his team ✅KL Rahul is Team India’s very own Swiss knife! #NZvIND
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 5, 2020
How often does Jadhav do this? We don't give him enough credit for playing a difficult role
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/ImVSKalhans/status/1224932283506884609
Kl rahul is ab of India..he can do anything and everything….@klrahul11 u beauty…@BCCI @imVkohli #NZvIND
— sailesh pinyani (@2e17724da17f491) February 5, 2020
People who questioned Jhadav's role in the squad be like :#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/FRpkTmujz5
— Hariprasath (@Haridhamodaran) February 5, 2020
Whoever thought of KL Rahul at 5 in @BCCI, deserves a raise! Not sure about how effectiveness as a WK in 50-over format but this position will do wonders to his confidence and gameplay. #NZvIND #NZvsIND
— Kunal (@kunal_karanjkar) February 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/RamKale03/status/1224931891096248320
https://twitter.com/ImshivankTyagi/status/1224930203736190976
@JimmyNeesh may be the king of the twitter but now there kings on field are chota don dabangg boy kedar Jadhav and Rahul sir
— Subham (@subhsays) February 5, 2020
Kedar to Neesham—yeh toh mere baanye haath ka khel hai ??? What was that shot over covers?! Freakish. #NZvInd
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 5, 2020
In the World Cup semi final, NZ played 3 pacers (Boult, Henry, Lockie) and India played 3 wicketkeepers. All 6 are absent from the XI today #NZvIND
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) February 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/sarvagyasonu/status/1224899756196937729
Shreyas Iyer ? #INDvsNZ #FirstODI
— ⭐భవధీయుడు భీమ్ల వంశీకృష్ణా⭐ (@vamsi_pamuri) February 5, 2020