India braved a late barrage from New Zealand's Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner to secure a 12-run victory in the first ODI in Hyderabad on Wednesday, January 18. Riding on Shubman Gill's fantastic 208, India posted a competitive total of 350 for the Kiwi men to chase down, but Bracewell's quickfire century, coupled with Santner's 57 runs off 45 balls brought New Zealand extremely close to the win.
It was Mohammed Siraj who then rescued the team, with his double strike in the 46th over bringing the game back into India's grasp.
The Kuldeep-Siraj show
The Indian bowlers ruled the roost, with a seemingly comfortable target to defend. Siraj struck in the sixth over itself to dismiss the dangerous Devon Conway. The New Zealand side also definitely missed the solid presence of Kane Williamson, as the Indian bowlers kept the pressure on their opponents in the first 20 overs.
After Conway's wicket, Finn Allen tried to stabilise the innings but lost his wicket to a cross-seam bouncer by Shardul Thakur, which hit the top edge and fell to substitute fielder Shahbaz Ahmed. Then the wickets swiftly fell for New Zealand, courtesy of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. He bagged the important wickets of Henry Nicholls, who he bowled for 18 runs, and Daryl Mitchell, who lost his wicket for 9 runs of 12 balls.
Tom Latham soon followed for 24 runs as Siraj re-entered the party, with veteran pacer Mohammed Shami grabbing the wicket of Glenn Phillips despite being expensive.
Bracewell, Santner fight back
In came Bracewell and Santner, who took on the Indian bowlers. The score read 131/6 when Santner came into the field, and from there, the Kiwis took the match by the scruff of the neck and brought New Zealand back into the game.
The duo set up a partnership of 162 runs, the third-highest seventh-wicket partnership, with Bracewell playing the aggressor and Santner anchoring the innings for the Kiwis. Bracewell took the Indian bowlers, especially the likes of Hardik Pandya, Shami and Washington Sundar.
Bracewell came in to bat with New Zealand's asking rate over nine runs. His first victim was Thakur, smashing him for 17 runs in the 37th over. He kept the pressure up on all the Indian bowlers. None of them, except Siraj, were spared, as Bracewell completed his ton in 57 balls. This is the joint second-fastest hundred against India in ODIs.
Death bowlers eventually prevail
With Bracewell leading the charge for New Zealand, the onus fell on the pace troika of Siraj, Pandya, and Thakur. First Siraj got the all-important wicket of Santner for 57 runs. Then, Henry Shipley fell for a golden duck and India needed just two more wickets, while the Kiwis needed 56 runs for the win.
Bracewell continued on alongside Lockie Ferguson, who rotated the strike as much as he could, while Bracewell took the match to the wire.
Eventually, it was Thakur who got the wicket of Bracewell in the third ball of the final over of the match, having smashed the medium pacer across the park. It was a brilliant yorker which hit Bracewell on the foot. The batter finished his innings at 140 runs in 78 balls, as India survived a scare to win the ball.
Shubman creates history
Earlier, Gill smashed a brilliant double hundred to power India to 349. Gill's 208 off 149 balls was almost a single-handed effort, with most of the veteran batters falling prey to the Indian bowlers. Skipper Rohit Sharma's 34 off 38 was the second-best score of the innings.
The 23-year-old hammered 19 fours and nine sixes with six of them coming after his 150. The double century, the eighth by an Indian, was also his second successive three-digit score.
It was a special innings for Gill, who, 23 years and 132 days, became the youngest batter to score a double century in ODIs, breaking the earlier record of Ishan Kishan. He also became the first batter to score an ODI double-century against New Zealand. The previous highest individual score by an Indian batter against New Zealand belonged to legendary Sachin Tendulkar who scored 186 not out at the same venue in 1999.
The opening batter from Punjab also became the by becoming the fastest Indian batter to 1000 ODI runs, having achieved the feat in 19 innings and leaving behind Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan in 24 innings. Gill also moved way up the ladder on the all-time list, equalling the 19 innings by Imam-ul-Haq to move to second, while the top spot has narrowly been retained by Fakhar Zaman.
