MUMBAI: Ross Taylor and Tom Latham sweated it out on their ways to hundreds during their win in the second warm-up game on Thursday. The duo repeated their act at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
This time the occasion was much bigger and held prominence to India captain Virat Kohli, who was playing his 200th game. Rising to the occasion, Kohli had led from the front with his 31st ODI hundred.
But south-paw Latham scored an unbeaten century while experienced Taylor missed out on a hundred by mere five runs as Kiwis comfortably defeated India by six wickets. Banking on Kohli’s 121 off 125 balls, India posted an imposing 280/8 in their 50 overs before Taylor-Latham shared a mammoth 200 run partnership off 187 balls to give New Zealand 1-0 lead in three-match series.
Latham joined Taylor out in the middle in the 18th over when New Zealand looked like they might lose the plot. The Indian spin duo of Kuldeep Chahal and Yuzavendra Chahal were looking to threaten. But then Latham-Taylor swept them and swept them well as slowly but steadily Black Caps took the game away from the hosts.
Latham’s unbeaten ton was laced with eight fours and two sixes, while Taylor too smashed eight fours in his knock of 100 balls 95. Talyor perished with scored tied, but the game was already won.
Earlier, having opted to bat first, Kohli found himself out in the middle in fourth over of the innings. Left-arm pacer Trent Boult was spitting fire as he sent back India openers Shikhar Dhawan (9 off 12) and Rohit Sharma (20 off 18) back in the pavilion, as his first spell figures read 5-1-7-2.
In the demanding conditions of Mumbai, skipper Kohli kept losing partners at a regular interval; as fall of Karthik (37 off 42), MS Dhoni (25 off 42) and Hardik Pandya (16 off 16) left India at 238/6 in the 46th over. Meanwhile, Kohli completed his landmark hundred in the 45th over with a single at fine leg off Tim Southee’s bowling. Along with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (26 off 15), Kohli helped host cross 275-run mark. Boult was the pick of the bowlers for Kiwis with figures of 4/35.
Despite the fact that his brilliant century went in vain, Kohli and his men would look to bounce back on Wednesday at the MCA Stadium on Wednesday.
SCORE BOARD
India innings: Rohit Sharma b Boult 20 (18b, 2x4); Shikhar Dhawan c Latham b Boult 9 (12b, 1x4); Virat Kohli c Boult b Southee 121 (125b, 9x4,2x6); Kedar Jadhav c & b Santner 12 (25b, 1x4); Dinesh Karthik c Munro b Southee 37 (47b, 4x4); MS Dhoni c Guptill b Boult 25 (42b, 2x4); Hardik Pandya c Williamson b Boult 16 (16b, 1x4, 1x6); Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Nicholls 26 (15b, 2x4, 2x6); Kuldeep Yadav not out 0 (0b)
Extras: (w 10, lb 4) 14
Total: (8 wickets; 50 overs) 280
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-29, 3-71, 4-144, 5-201, 6-238, 7-270, 8-280
Bowling: Tim Southee 10-0-73-3; Trent Boult 10-1-35-4; Adam Milne 9-0-62-0; Mitchell Santner 10-0-41-1; Colin de Grandhomme 4-0-27-0; Colin Munro 7-0-38-0
New Zealand innings: Martin Guptill c Karthik b Pandya 32 (48b, 5x4); Colin Munro c Karthik b Bumrah 28 (35b, 3x4, 1x6); Kane Williamson c Jadhav b Yadav 6 (8b); Ross Taylor c Chahal b Kumar 95 (100b, 8x4); Tom Latham not out 103 (102b, 8x4, 2x6) Henry Nicholls not out 4 (1b. 1x4)
Extras: (w 5, lb 11) 16
Total: (4 wickets; 49 overs) 284
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-62, 3-80, 4-280
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 10-0-56-1; Jasprit Bumrah 9-0-56-1; Kuldeep Yadav 10-0-64-1; Hardik Pandya 10-0-46-1; Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-51-0
New Zealand won by 6-wickets