India defeat New Zealand to win 7th consecutive ODI series
It was a case of so near yet so far for New Zealand team who have never won a bilateral ODI series in India. On Sunday the black caps came agonizingly close to registering their first ever series win but some exceptional death bowling especially by Bumrah meant that the men in blue won their 7th consecutive ODI series under captain Kohli.
Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma struck sparkling centuries as India notched up a thrilling six-run win against New Zealand to capture the three-match ODI series 2-1, at the Green Park on Sunday.
After posting a challenging 337/6, India restricted the Black Caps to 331/7 in 50 overs, thus ensuring back-to-back series wins against the rivals on home soil and their seventh successive bilateral series victory.
With New Zealand needing 15 runs off the last six deliveries, Jasprit Bumrah conceded eight and dismissed Mitchell Santner off the fourth delivery. Bumrah was also the brain behind Tom Latham’s crucial run out in the 48th over.
As far as personal milestones are concerned, the day belonged to captain Kohli who not only registered his 32nd ODI hundred but also became the fastest to reach 9000 ODI runs. He is also the fastest to reach 5000 runs as a captain. As a skipper, Kohli now has 10 ODI centuries, 10 ODI fifties and 10 Test hundreds. In this calendar year, Kohli has also registered the most runs by a captain and also has also hit the most numbers of hundreds as a skipper in a year. In the series against New Zealand, Virat Kohli scored 263 runs which is the most by any Indian in a 3 match ODI series.
Meanwhile, after a commendable performance in the death overs and picking up three wickets in the match Jasprit Bumrah became the second fastest Indian to take 50 wickets in ODIs. The fastest to reach the milestone is former India fast bowler, Ajit Agarkar. Mohammad Shami, Irfan Pathan and Amit Mishra follow thereafter. However, it was a day to forget for fellow Indian pacer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar who become the first Indian bowler to concede more than 85 runs twice in ODI cricket history.
