Dec. 1: Captaincy tends to bring the best out of some cricketers and Gautam Gambhir clearly is one of them. The stand-in skipper didn’t put a foot wrong in the second one-dayer at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Wednesday, leading India to an eight-wicket victory over New Zealand with 42 balls to spare.
Gambhir did everything right to notch up a scintillating eighth ODI century as India went 2-0 up in the five-match series after a hands-on display in the field. Chasing a competitive 259 to win, the Delhi opener took the Kiwis apart, notching up a century off only 89 balls to remain unbeaten on 138 off 116 balls (18x4).
In the absence of Virender Sehwag, Gambhir slipped into the role of a marauder putting the Kiwis on the back foot from the word go. In the process he reached his first ODI century this year, his previous ton being an equally magnificent 150 against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in December 2009.
The Black Caps opened the bowling with off-spinner Nathan McCullum and he was the only one to command some respect. Pacemen Kyle Mills and Andy McKay didn’t escape the wrath of Gambhir’s blade as the off-side was peppered with boundaries both off the back foot and front foot.
The 29-year-old reached his fifty off 44 balls with eight glorious boundaries. His opening stand with Murali Vijay (33) was worth 87 runs before the Chennai opener went for an injudicious slog sweep off Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori. In-form Virat Kohli joined skipper Gambhir and the Delhi duo put the game out of the visitors’ reach with a 116-run second wicket stand off 115 balls.
Kohli looked good for a third successive ton as he motored along to 64 off 73 balls (8x4) before pulling McKay to Ross Taylor at short mid-wicket. Gambhir, at the other end, brought up his century with an audacious clip over mid-wicket off McKay and then took apart the left-arm seamer with three boundaries in one over.
He finished the match off in the company of Yuvraj Singh, who remained unbeaten on 16 off 11 balls (1x4, 1x6).
Earlier, the temperamental Shanthakumaran Sreesanth reined in his aggression to restrict the Kiwis to 258/8. Sreesanth was a standout performer in a scratchy Indian fielding effort, claiming 4/47 in nine overs to add to the three wickets he had picked up in the first ODI in Guwahati.
On a track devoid of grass which hardly provided any assistance to the seamers, Sreesanth bowled with a seam bolt upright to trouble all the batsmen. Jamie How opened the batting with Martin Guptill as Brendan McCullum failed to recover from his back spasm.
Sreesanth moved the ball away just enough from How (5) to catch his edge and draw first blood at 14/1 in the fourth over. Guptill didn’t let the early dismissal effect him as he anchored the innings superbly.
SCOREBOARD
new zealand
Guptill c Saha b Ashwin 70, How c Saha b Sreesanth 5, Williamson b Patel 29, Taylor c Kohli b Pathan 15, Styris c Saha b Sreesanth 59, Vettori b Sreesanth 31, Hopkins not out 11, McCullum run out 12, Mills b Sreesanth 13, Southee not out 2.
Extras: (lb-5, w-6) 11
Total 258/8
FoW: 1-14, 2-64, 3-96, 4-161, 5-219, 6-219, 7-242, 8-256
Bowling: Nehra 9-1-45-0, Sreesanth 9-1-47-4, Patel 8-0-34-1 (w2), Ashwin 10-0-52-1 (w1), Yuvraj 9-1-48-0 (w3), Pathan 4-0-23-1, Raina 1-0-4-0
India
Vijay b Vettori 33, Gambhir not out 138, Kohli c Taylor b McKay 64, Yuvraj not out 16.
Extras: (w-8) 8
Total (in 43 overs) 259/2
FoW: 1-87, 2-203
Bowling: McCullum 9-0-37-0 (w1), Mills 7-0-49-0, McKay 7-0-59-1 (w2), Styris 3-0-20-0, Vettori 8-0-32-1, Southee 5-0-33-0 (w5), Williamson 4-0-29-0