New Zealand finally managed to secure a win in the ongoing tour beating India by four wickets in the first ODI at the Seddon Park in Hamilton. Ross Taylor and Tom Latham were outstanding with the bat for the home side as they chased down the target of 348 runs set by the Indians. Speaking at the end of the game, India skipper Virat Kohli identified one area which took the game away from them.
The Black Caps came into this game with a lot of pressure and the team has responded to it. Chasing a massive total, Henry Nicholls and Martin Guptill set a nice base at the start, but India came back with two quick wickets. Ross Taylor escaped an early scare when Kuldeep Yadav dropped him on 10 and Nicholls, who was already set, took responsibility and shared a fifty partnership.
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Tom Latham came on, was on 3 off 13 balls but accelerated to 50 off 38 balls to snatch the advantage back from India. Taylor was smartly doing his bit, while Latham was taking on the bowlers. A brisk 129-run stand put this beyond India's reach, but New Zealand did send scary waves by losing 3 wickets for 21 runs. Mitchell Santner held his nerve with Taylor at the crease and they crossed the line with 11 balls to spare.
Earlier in the day, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer played key knocks to help India post 347 runs on the board. Revamped opening pair Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal gave a good start but went back in quick succession. Striving at 54 for two, skipper Virat Kohli joined hands with Iyer to steer the innings before KL Rahul joined the party. They added 136 runs for the fourth wicket to set a mammoth total but it didn't prove to be enough to seal the deal.
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Meanwhile, there were very less to differentiate between the two teams. But skipper Virat Kohli identified Tom Latham's blistering knock as the difference between both the sides. Latham dominated the middle overs scoring 69 off 48 deliveries to give New Zealand stead ahead in the game from where Ross Taylor took the team over the rope.
"An outstanding performance by New Zealand. We thought 348 was good enough, especially after the start we got with the ball. I think Tom's innings took the game away from us. Ross and Tom were unstoppable in the middle overs. I got to say that the opposition played better than us and deserved to win today," Kohli said after the match.