India won the rain-affected match against New Zealand by 5 wickets on Wednesday. Captain Shubman Gill credited his team’s disciplined bowling and excellent fielding for the victory at Eden Park on Wednesday. He specifically mentioned the moment of Rohit Sharma running out Daryl Mitchell.
Gill said that this wicket proved to be the turning point of the match, because at that time New Zealand looked to be in a position to make a comeback in the match with the partnership of Mitchell and Glenn Phillips. After bowling out New Zealand for 185 runs in 40.2 overs in Auckland, India achieved the revised target of 143 runs under Duckworth-Lewis rule in 22.4 overs.
During this, Kohli played an inning of 74 runs in 14 balls in 51 balls. With this, Team India has taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Regarding the team’s performance, Gill pointed out how India’s fielding supported the bowling well, and Rohit’s brilliant fielding helped break New Zealand’s resistance. Gill said, “Our bowling was very good. Our fielding was also very good. That run-out by Rohit Bhai changed the course of the match. The partnership of Mitchell and Phillips looked very dangerous – we had also seen in India how well both of them batted. Overall, it was a very good performance from our team.
” Captain Gill was happy with the contribution of Anshul Kamboj and Gurnoor Brar. Both these bowlers took full advantage of the conditions and kept New Zealand under constant pressure. Kamboj took 2 wickets for 22 runs in 10 overs, while Brar took 3 wickets for 44 runs. He further said, “I mean, Anshul is such a bowler, who is perfect for these conditions. He always bowls fast and tries to seam the ball. He bowls well even with the old ball. We felt that when the pitch is not providing much help, he can generate extra bounce. His pace and the way both of them bowled tonight was really great to watch.”
It rained twice during the Indian innings, due to which the number of overs was reduced to 32 and the target also had to be changed. Gill acknowledged that the changing conditions posed a challenge for the batsmen who had settled in at the crease, but said Kohli’s innings helped India deal with the situation. The captain said, “When you are set at the crease and then rain comes, things are not easy. After the rain, the pitch became a little faster and the ball also started coming faster. The target also became less. So we were just trying to play our normal game.
The way Virat Bhai batted, he made things very easy for us.” Talking about the second ODI in Wellington, Gill said India are not looking to make any major changes after the first win. Emphasizing the importance of repeating the same level of performance, he said, “Nothing special, if we can repeat our performance, the most important thing for us is consistency. If we can perform like that again and again, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”