India survived a Michael Bracewell scare after Shubman Gill’s masterpiece knock of 208 as they won the first ODI of the three-match series against New Zealand by 12 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday. New Zealand was under the cosh at 131-6 while chasing a mammoth score of 350 and at that stage India had the game in their pockets.
However, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner stole it away with a brilliant alliance of 162 runs for the seventh wicket, which is the best for New Zealand for the seventh wicket and the best overall against India.
Bracewell was the aggressor as he took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners, smashing his career-best 140 off just 78 with the help of a dozen fours and 10 sixes. Santner played a second fiddle as he scored 57 from 45 balls. Bracewell completed his second ODI century off just 57 balls as he timed the ball to perfection.
Meanwhile, the Indian bowlers failed to hit the right lengths to keep both the left-handers at bay. It was clean striking from Bracewell and Santner as they smashed multiple records.
Except for Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav, all the Indian bowlers took a beating as they failed to keep the runs under check.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “To be honest, the way he (Bracewell) was batting and the way it came on to the bat nicely, it was clean ball-striking. We knew that if we bowled well, we would be okay unless we really slipped up with the ball. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. I did say at the toss that I’d like to see us challenge ourselves, not quite the situation I expected but that’s how it is.”
On the other hand, Rohit showered praise on Shubman Gill, who became the youngest to score a double century in the format. Gill looked at ease on the pitch and timed with the ball with great control. Moreover, Rohit also heaped praise on Mohammed Siraj, who returned with impressive figures of 4-46 and more importantly provided two crucial breakthroughs in his final over.
Rohit added, “He (Gill) is going really well. The form he was in, we wanted to make use of it and that’s why we backed him in the SL series. Free-flowing batter and it’s quite exciting to watch. Siraj has been brilliant, not just in this game but in the red-ball, T20 format and now ODIs. Really good to see what he does with the ball. Executing what he wants to do and he is very clear about his plans. Which is how it should be.”
The second ODI between these two teams will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur on Saturday.
