'Kiwis were too good' - Virender Sehwag lauds Ross Taylor, Ravindra Jadeja after New Zealand clinch the series

New Zealand came out on tops in a hard-fought second ODI against India at the Eden Park in Auckland. They won the match by 22 runs after India failed to chase down the 274-run target against an all pace Kiwi attack, including a debuting Kyle Jamieson. With this victory, New Zealand also won the series going 2-0 up with one match to go.

The batsmen may not have done much for the Black Caps in this match, but Martin Guptill slammed 79 and Ross Taylor continued his purple patch and followed his century in the last match with a brilliant 73*, while Nicholls scored a good contribution of 41 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal, who came into this match for Kuldeep Yadav, picked 3/58, while Shardul Thakur picked two wickets.

In return, Hamish Bennett, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee picked two wickets each as they rattled the top order with wickets of Agarwal, Shaw, and Kohli and then demolished the middle-order with scalps of Rahul and Jadhav as the Men in Blue were left reeling with seven wickets down.

Then came an unexpected partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Navdeep Saini, who added 76 runs for the eight-wicket. Saini contributed an entertaining 45 runs with 2 sixes and 5 fours, while Shardul Thakur made 18 runs. Even Chahal tried to give Jadeja some support, as he made a last dash towards victory.  Finally, Jadeja well for a well made 55 runs, but India lost the game by 22 runs and also the series as the home side went up 2-0.

‘Navdeep Saini gave us hope’: Virender Sehwag

Former India captain Virender Sehwag took to Twitter and praised the fighting spirit of Ravindra Jadeja and is an amazing partnership with Navdeep Saini, who hit 2 sixes and five fours in his good knock. He felt that New Zealand was too good on this day, despite the valiant efforts of Iyer, Jadeja, and Saini.

Sehwag was also full of applause for Ross Taylor, who helped New Zealand to a good total despite losing six wickets to 200-odd runs. He also congratulated the New Zealand team for the series win.

He tweeted, “Jadeja had an outstanding game with both bat and ball. His partnership with Saini gave us hope but the Kiwi’s were too good with the ball today. Ross, the boss again playing a crucial inning with the bat. Congratulations on the series win, @BLACKCAPS #NZvIND”