Latham, Taylor author brilliant New Zealand chase
New Zealand got its limited-overs tour of India off to a fabulous start, chasing down a challenging 281-run target in 49 overs to canter to a six-wicket win in Mumbai and go 1-0 up in the three-match One-Day International series on Sunday (October 22).
Tom Latham's fourth ODI hundred was the highlight of the chase, Ross Taylor ably supporting him with a measured 95 off 100 balls during a fourth-wicket stand of 200. India had posted 280 for 8, riding on Virat Kohli's 121 off 125, his 31st ODI century, after choosing to bat in the afternoon.
Colin Munro and Martin Guptill began New Zealand's pursuit with caution, having noticed that the traditionally batting-friendly strip at the Wankhede Stadium wasn't quite playing to its reputation. There had been uneven bounce during India's innings, and as the openers found out, a few similar surprises were in store when Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah bowled with the two new balls. The pacers tested both the batsmen, and just when it looked like New Zealand would get past the first ten overs without any loss, Bumrah foxed Munro with a slower one that he leading-edged for Dinesh Karthik to complete a simple catch in the covers, running back.
Kohli took his premier pacers off the attack to preserve their remaining overs for the end, but New Zealand still had the host's wrist-spinning pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav to counter, along with Hardik Pandya.
Kane Williamson, the captain, tapped an easy catch to Kedar Jadhav at cover off Kuldeep, putting the responsibility of taking the chase forward on Guptill and Taylor's shoulders. Guptill's stay didn't last too long though, Pandya having him caught by Karthik for 32. The scoreboard read 80 for 3 at that stage, and New Zealand was in dire need of a big partnership. It got past the 100-run mark in the 22nd over, and the equation read 177 needed off 168 balls - still very manageable with Taylor and Latham in charge.
Both batsmen had scored centuries in the second warm-up game against a Board President's XI earlier in the week, and continued their good run with a key fourth-wicket partnership of 200 off 189 balls, denying the bowlers any chance of making a breakthrough to tilt the game in New Zealand’s favour.
Latham, who had a successful stint with Durham in the lead-up to this series, finished unbeaten on 103 off 102 balls while Taylor fell with the scores level. Henry Nicholls hit a four off his first ball to complete the formalities.
Earlier, against arguably the most challenging bowling line-up it has come across in ODIs in recent months, India did well to recover from an early shake-up after electing to bat.
Kohli marked his 200th appearance in the format with a stellar century, using whatever little support he could get from Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Pandya to spare India the blushes. Kohli’s 121 included nine fours and two sixes.
Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma had put on three century opening partnerships in five innings during the recent 4-1 rout of Australia. But as soon as Shikhar Dhawan made himself available for this series after sorting out a family emergency that had kept him out of action, Rahane, who has scored seven fifties and a century in 12 games as an opener this year, was benched to accommodate the left-hand batsman alongside Rohit in the playing XI.
The largely successful Rohit-Dhawan pairing however, didn't work for India on Sunday, with a terrific first spell from Trent Boult sending both batsmen back to the hut by the sixth over.
The move that did work for India was to bring Karthik in for Manish Pandey, who hadn't made the best use of his opportunities against Australia. Karthik made an impact straightaway, pairing up with Kohli to consolidate the innings after Mitchell Santner, the left-arm spinner, sent Jadhav back to reduce India to 71 for 3 by the 17th over.
Kohli and Karthik (37 off 47 balls) added 73 off 80 balls for the fourth wicket to keep the threatening New Zealand bowling at bay.
Once Karthik fell, Kohli and Dhoni batted patiently to see off the middle overs with a fifth-wicket partnership of 57 off 74 balls.
Kohli, after a relatively quiet series against Australia, seemed to have ironed out whatever chinks he had in his armour. After a calm start, the Indian captain pressed on the accelerator at the death, and despite losing big-hitters in Dhoni and Pandya, fought on till the 50th over to make sure India got to what seemed like a competitive total.
Bhuvneshwar’s late cameo (26 off 15) from No. 8 helped India rack up some quick runs in the end, which could well have proved crucial had the match gone deep, but Latham and Taylor had other ideas.
Boult (4 for 35) and Southee (3 for 73) were New Zealand's most successful bowlers, while Santner and Munro kept the scoring rate under check in the middle overs.
