Twitter Reactions: India start ODI series with a brilliant victory

The first ODI between India and New Zealand kicked off at Dharamshala with the hosts emerging victorious. To begin with, it was MS Dhoni who won the toss as India elected to field first. Hardik Pandya was awarded his ODI cap by the legendary Kapil Dev.

The Kiwis were off to a horrid start. Martin Guptill was caught at the slips after hitting some boundaries. He was followed by Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor in quick intervals as Umesh Yadav struck twice off consecutive balls.

While Tom Latham batted solidly at one end, the wickets kept falling like a pack of cards at the other end. The Kiwis were reduced to 106/8. However, Tim Southee made a quickfire 55 from just 45 balls as he made sure New Zealand had something to defend on the board.

At the end, the visitors were all out for 190 runs. Tom Latham carried his bat throughout the innings with a scintillating 79*. Debutant Pandya got three wickets along with Mishra who crossed 50 ODI scalps. Yadav who bowled a fantastic first spell got a couple of wickets. Kedar Jadhav bought in to bowl as a surprise by Dhoni also struck twice.

Also read- India v New Zealand, 1st ODI – 5 Talking Points

The Mumbai pair of Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane was off to a fine start before Doug Bracewell trapped Rohit in front of the stumps. Rahane who was looking superb ended up edging one to the wicketkeeper. However, it was Virat Kohli who again stood tall.

In what was his 37th half century in ODI, Kohli scored a magnificent 85* (81) as he finished things off with a six. Earlier, Dhoni who was looking quite confident at the crease got run out due to some confusion between him and Kohli. India went on to win the game by six wickets with more than 15 overs to spare. Hardik Pandya was deservingly declared the player of the game.

Twitter kept everyone entertained on an amazing Sunday evening. The Indian pacers was lauded for some excellent bowling performance in what is considered as a rare occasion. The Kiwi batsmen, Guptill and Taylor were trolled for a string of poor scores. Kohli, as usual, garnered praises for his consistency.

Also read- Twitter Reactions: Indian bowlers rule as Kiwis bundle up for a low score

Here are some of the best Twitter reactions that took place during the course of the game:

https://twitter.com/altcricket/status/787623049860349953