India v New Zealand, 2nd ODI - Who Said What

After a very disappointing and shocking defeat at Mumbai, team India regrouped well ahead of the second ODI at Pune. They knew that the New Zealand side were not mere pushovers in the competition and had their homework done ahead of the encounter. Much to the delight of the home fans, the men in blue got back to winning ways with a clinical performance in the 2nd ODI.

After having lost the toss, the Indian team had to field first on a track that had been in the news for various reasons in the last 24 hours. New Zealand got off to a sluggish start and could never really catch up with the pace. Wickets kept tumbling as maiden overs came in wholesale for the Indian team. In the end, all they could manage was 230/9 on the board.

In the run chase, India lost Rohit Sharma cheaply. Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan showed brief resistance as a pair before Kohli was dismissed. Dhawan continued to rally along with a fifty. After his departure, Dinesh Karthik played the anchor role with an unbeaten 64 to see the hosts home by 6 wickets. Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni chipped in with crucial contributions as well.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik, who is made a comeback to the national setup in the series, seems to have answered India’s probing number 4 position woes. He scored a key unbeaten 64 to guide India home. He mentioned that he had a lot of internal demons to fight. He is keen on scoring more runs and winning more matches for the team.

Dinesh Karthik said: I would like to think so (that the form is getting better). It is important to spend as much time in the middle. It was even more important for me to be there when we won the match and I am happy that I was able to do that. Maybe I took a little more time but with confidence the runs will flow. So far so good (on the comeback). I have had a lot of demons to fight and these things happen inside you. In the end lot of credit to Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli. Afternoon it (the surface) was okay, when the ball was new it was coming on and when it got scruffed up the odd ball was turning. I am not able to put it exactly to what I am feeling. I have got a good score and need to take confidence from this match to win more matches.

New Zealand Captain Kane Williamson

The Kiwi skipper was disappointed with the way his team fared up on the day. He, however, credited the middle order for taking the team to a respectable total. Also, he had some words of praise for the Indian bowlers for having bowled tight lines.

Kane Williamson said: One of those surfaces where if you get a good score on the board and squeeze, the bowlers would have made life difficult. We weren’t good enough at the top, India’s opening bowlers were very very well, hit the mark, the length on that surface. There’s a lesson there for us. And we know we have to play a lot better to beat these guys. The surface wasn’t easy to play fluently and Colin came out and went at run-a-ball. We came here with high hopes, we put a much better performance in Mumbai and we need to be better again in Kanpur.

Indian Captain Virat Kohli

Meanwhile, the Indian captain Virat Kohli expressed his happiness over the win. He cited that the team managed to read the pitch well. He looked pleased with the way Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled on the day. With the bat, Shikhar and Dinesh Karthik did the task for the team with the bat. Kohli looked pleased with the team’s effort.

Virat Kohli said: “Pretty good game for us today. Exactly what we spoke at toss time. Pitch would be slow in the evening, better to bat at night. Great to see Bumrah and Bhuvi, they are our top two bowlers, they know they will start more often than not, so they can create plans. And today with the wicket being slow, it was great to see them getting batsmen out in conventional ways, not ugly wickets. Shikhar has been playing very well, one odd game he’s faltered, but he’s hitting the ball really well and he’s getting good runs at the top. Dinesh as well, getting crucial runs for himself and for the team. We look forward to any challenge on us. We spoke about needing to bounce back, and we’ve done that.

Player of the Match – Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named the Player of the Match for his exceptional bowling spell on the day. Bhuvi bowled his complete quota of 10 overs and returned with figures of 3/45. He was the pick of the Indian bowlers. It was Bhuvi who had sent both the Kiwi openers packing for low scores. He shared some words of wisdom and said he is confident about his fitness because of the hard work he has put in.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar said: That’s my nature, I’m calm, and however you practice you replicate that. I never try to do anything different. It’s the way I bowl, with the new ball, I swing it. It wasn’t happening today, so I just tried to bowl in good areas, got two wickets and that gave me confidence. Things get easier for you when you’re confident. There’s no easy route to success, but with confidence, you can do those good things better. I’m not muscular, but thanks to the trainer, introducing player-specific training, I feel much confident and stronger when it comes to fitness”